| Monday, February 12, 2007 |
| West issues tough warning to Iran over nuclear weapons plans |
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, has declared that the international community is determined to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.
She said there was "no way around" the need for Tehran to accept demands from the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global nuclear watchdog.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator is set to tell a summit in Munich, the Munich Conference on Security Policy, a gathering of about 250 of the world's top security officials, that Iran wants nuclear power, not nuclear weapons.
Earlier, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it had frozen about half of the technical aid projects involving Iran.
The IAEA says its move is to comply with the UN sanctions imposed on Tehran late in 2006 over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's speech opened the Munich Conference on Security Policy, which is expected to include Iran's nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.
It would be Larijani's first meeting with European officials since the collapse of the talks in 2006.
Key figures present at the summit also included Russian President Vladimir Putin and United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
"What we are talking about here is a very, very sensitive technology, and for that reason we need a high degree of transparency, which Iran has failed to provide, and if Iran does not do so, then the alternative for Iran is to slip further into isolation," Angela Merkel said.
The conference this year also focuses on NATO's changing role, the Middle East peace process, the West's relations with Russia and the fight against terrorism.
Putin, who spoke after Angela Merkel, criticised the United States for the "almost uncontained" use of force in the world, and for encouraging other countries to acquire nuclear weapons. "We are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations," Putin said.
Meanwhile, European officials are hoping to hold informal talks with Larijani on the Iranian nuclear standoff on the sidelines of the conference.
Earlier, an IAEA report said 22 technical aid projects involving Iran has been suspended to comply with the UN sanctions, which call for an end to programmes that could be exploited by Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
The IAEA gives technical aid to dozens of countries on the peaceful use of nuclear energy in fields such as medicine, agriculture and power generation.
The IAEA has been reportedly under pressure from the United States to take a tough line on Iran.
A senior UN official said the freeze constituted a "substantial cut" in technical aid to Iran.Labels: International Politics |
| posted by a correspondent @ 9:12 PM |
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