Iran's Uranium Program Remains Unchanged

Iran's Uranium Program Remains Unchanged


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n4234791.shtml

TEHRAN, Iran, July 5, 2008

(AP) Iran's nuclear program remains unchanged, a government spokesman
said Saturday, indicating that Tehran has no plans to meet a key
Western demand that it stop enriching uranium.

Gholam Hossein Elham's insistence that Iran would not change the
central part of its controversial program came a day after Iran sent
the European Union its response to an international proposal to curb
its program in exchange for economic incentives. The content of the
response has not been made public.

"Iran's stand regarding its peaceful nuclear program has not changed,"
Elham told reporters.

Iran's ambassador to Belgium presented the response to the package to
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Brussels on Friday, and
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, spoke with Solana by
phone, Iranian state media has reported.

European officials said they were studying the Iranian response and
were consulting among themselves and with the United States, Russia
and China on what to do next.

A positive response could open the way to renewed negotiations that
might help cool recent sharp exchanges between officials on both
sides. In recent weeks the U.S. and Iran have traded threats and
warnings over possible American or Israeli military action.

But one European official cautioned about possible progress on the
issue, and Elham's comments did not indicate that a breakthrough was
made.

"It was not something that made us jump up and down for joy," said the
official. "We are in a holding mode until we get a chance to look at
it more closely." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because
the information was confidential.

Elham also said Iran was ready to negotiate on its program "within the
framework of the international rules and regulations." He did not
elaborate, but Iranian state media reported Friday that Solana and
Jalili agreed during their conversation to hold the latest in a series
of talks in the second half of July.

Acting on behalf of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security
Council and Germany, Solana offered the modified package of economic
incentives to Iran during his June visit to the country. The offer is
meant to persuade Iran to halt enrichment, which the six world powers
fear Iran could use to produce weapons.

Iran has repeatedly insisted it will not give up enrichment, saying
its only aim is to produce nuclear power, not weapons. But it had said
the incentives package had some "common ground" with Tehran's own
proposals for a resolution to the standoff.

Separately, EU nations also approved new sanctions against Iran in
June, imposing additional financial and travel restrictions on a list
of Iranian companies and experts, including the country's largest
bank.

The six nations - the U.S., China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany
- first offered a package of economic, technological and political
incentives to Tehran nearly two years ago on condition that it suspend
enrichment.

The standoff has led to increasingly tense exchanges about the
possibility of a military strike by Israel or the U.S. An Israeli
military exercise last month was seen as a warning to Iran.

The commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards has said that Iran
would consider any military action against its nuclear facilities as
the beginning of a war. However, the general also has said he thinks a
strike by Iran's adversaries is unlikely.

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Subject: Iran warns of closing Hormuz Strait

Date: Saturday, July 5, 2008, 7:07 AM

Just think what the following would do to the international economy:


Iran warns of closing Hormuz Strait



http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?i...onid=351020101



Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:22:14


Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces says the Islamic Republic will
close the Strait of Hormuz if its interests are placed in jeopardy.

"The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic waterway and it is therefore very
important for us to keep it open," Major General Hassan Firouzabadi
said on Sunday.

"It should be made clear that we will not allow anyone to pass through
the waterway, if Iran's regional interests are jeopardized," he
added.

Firouzabadi's remarks come after a recent New York Times report
revealed that in the first week of June, the Israeli air force staged
a maneuver off the southern Mediterranean Island of Crete in
preparation for a war with the Islamic Republic

According to the report, Israeli aircraft flew over 900 miles, roughly
the distance from their airfields to a nuclear enrichment facility in
the central Iranian city of Natanz.

Speaking one day after the 20th anniversary of the downing of an
Iranian passenger plane by the US Navy in the Strait of Hormuz, Maj.
Gen. Firouzabadi criticized Washington for bowing to Tel Aviv's every
demand.

"The US military belongs to the government of the United States.
Greedy warmongers like Bush and the Zionists must not be able to take
advantage of this institution," said Firouzabadi.

The top Iranian commander said the US government is 'trapped in the
jaws of global Zionism', concluding that the American nation and
military forces should not be sacrificed for unworthy rulers serving
the interests of Zionism.

MJ/JG/RA/HGH


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Israel Prods Americans into War with Iran:



http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/zone0...ic.php?t=92226



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9/11 mystery 'solved':



http://tinyurl.com/5ov9ja



Must see youtube of Scott McClellan being questioned by citizen
journalist about the neocon war for Israel agenda for Iraq with Iran
on deck (click on the pic at the following URL):



http://tinyurl.com/6gzo4o



Israel prods Americans into war with Iran



http://tinyurl.com/6xbfv3



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http://NOMOREWARFORISRAEL.BLOGSPOT.COM