Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




NUKEWARS
Iran refuses to go beyond nuclear obligations
by Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) Feb 23, 2013


French concern on reports of new Iranian centrifuges
Paris (AFP) Feb 22, 2013 - France expressed concern Friday after the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran had installed advanced centrifuges in a key nuclear plant, calling it a "step backwards."

The UN International Atomic Energy Agency said that Tehran "had started the installation of IR-2m centrifuges" at a plant in Natanz in the centre of the country.

"While we are waiting for concrete acts from Iran to show that it is trying to ... respect its obligations, it continues to intensify its sensitive activities," foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said.

Iran denies seeking atomic weapons but many in the international community suspect otherwise. The UN Security Council has passed several resolutions calling on Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment.

The IAEA report came ahead of a new meeting between Iran and six world powers -- the US, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany -- in Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

These will be the first talks between the parties since three rounds of meetings ended in stalemate in Moscow last June.

"We are still hoping that something will emerge from this meeting," Lalliot said.

Iran said Saturday it will not go beyond its obligations or accept anything outside its rights under the non-proliferation treaty (NPT), ahead of talks with major powers on its disputed nuclear drive.

"We will not accept anything beyond our obligations and will not accept anything less than our rights," said the Islamic republic's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, quoted by ISNA news agency.

"Iran has fulfilled its NPT obligations as an active and committed member, therefore (it) should gain all of its rights," Jalili said in an address to Iranian nuclear industry officials.

His remarks come ahead of a meeting between Iran and six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany -- in Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

The talks will be the first between the parties since three rounds of meetings in Moscow ended in stalemate last June.

The so-called P5+1 has called on Iran to scale back on uranium enrichment, the process that is used for power plant fuel and in higher purities needed for a nuclear weapon.

But they stopped short of offering Tehran substantial relief from UN Security Council and unilateral Western sanctions which have since last year caused major economic problems for the Gulf country.

Iran denies seeking atomic weapons but many in the international community suspect otherwise.

"The Iranian nation will defend its rights including its nuclear rights ... Iranian people do not accept to be treated as an exception in the world," said Jalili, who is also secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

"They have announced that they have imposed crippling pressures on the Iranian nation to give up its rights ... but despite the sanctions they have only witnessed Iranian people ... defending their rights," Jalili added.

"If the 5+1 wants to enter constructive talks, then they should enter it with a new strategy and proposals. We hope the 5+1 ... enter on a path that can win the Iranian people's trust," he said.

France on Thursday confirmed that world powers will make a "substantial" new offer to Iran at the talks next week in Kazakhstan.

"We will make a new offer that will contain significant new elements. We want a true exchange, leading to concrete results," said the French foreign ministry's deputy spokesman, Vincent Floreani, without elaborating.

According to media reports, the world powers could offer to ease sanctions on Iran's trade in gold and other precious metals.

On Thursday, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland urged Iran to consider "another path" than the nuclear bomb.

"They have an opportunity to come to those talks ready to be serious, ready to allay the international community's concerns, and we hope they take that opportunity," she said.

Talks between Iran and the UN atomic watchdog agency have been stalled for around a decade, with Tehran refusing to answer a number of demands from the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying they go beyond its obligations.

.


Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








NUKEWARS
Iran judge condemns American to death for spying
Tehran (AFP) Jan 9, 2012
An Iranian judge sentenced a US-Iranian man to death for spying for the CIA, media reported Monday, exacerbating high tensions in the face of Western sanctions on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme. Amir Mirzai Hekmati, a 28-year-old former Marine born in the United States to an Iranian family, was "sentenced to death for cooperating with a hostile nation, membership of the CIA and try ... read more


NUKEWARS
Water On The Moon: It's Been There All Along

Building a lunar base with 3D printing

US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

Russia to Launch Lunar Mission in 2015

NUKEWARS
NASA Rover Confirms First Drilled Mars Rock Sample

India plans mission to Mars in 2013

Rover finds gray rock beneath Red Planet's surface

Bleach could hamper Mars life search

NUKEWARS
Supersonic skydiver's records confirmed

Kennedy Engineers Designing Plant Habitat For ISS

NASA plant study headed to space station

NASA Spinoff 2012 Features New Space Tech Bettering Your Life Today

NUKEWARS
Welcome Aboard Shenzhou 10

Reshuffle for Tiangong

China to launch 20 spacecrafts in 2013

Mr Xi in Space

NUKEWARS
NASA briefly loses contact with space station

Temporary Comm Loss Interrupts Crew's Day

Low-Gravity Flights Will Aid ISS Fluids and Combustion Experiments

Progress docks with ISS

NUKEWARS
Countdown begins for Indo-French satellite launch

NASA Seeks University Participants for Summer Rocket Workshop

Another Sea Launch Failure

ILS Concludes Yamal 402 Proton Launch Investigation

NUKEWARS
NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Tiny Planet System

Kepler helps astronomers find tiny exo planet

Searching for a Pale Blue SPHERE in the Universe

Earth-like planets are right next door

NUKEWARS
A Semiconductor 'Nano-Shish-Kebabs' With 3-D Potential

That's the way the droplets adhere

Acoustic-assisted magnetic information storage

DARPA Seeks to Defuse the Threat of Ionizing Radiation




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement