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The PU: Its Too Early For Sanctions On Iran
The European Union said Friday it was too early to impose sanctions on Iran for its failure to halt uranium enrichment by a U.N.-imposed deadline, and announced it would be meeting early next week with Iran's top nuclear negotiator. Ouch! That smell, smells like burn weasal "For the EU, diplomacy remains the No. 1 way forward," said Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency. He told a news conference "this is not the time or place" for the international community to hit Iran with sanctions over its nuclear program. Iran defied a Thursday U.N. Security Council deadline to stop uranium enrichment, raising the prospect of U.N. economic and other sanctions. In Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated that his country would not be bullied into giving up what he called Iran's right to nuclear technology. U.S. President George W. Bush said Thursday that Iran has responded with defiance and delay to demands to stop enriching uranium. In Russia, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said Moscow regrets Iran's decision, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would propose ways to resolve the standoff, suggesting that strong sanctions would be counterproductive, Russian news agencies said. Tuomioja said if Iran indeed seeks negotiations, "then we have to see what the conditions are." Posted by: Captain America 2006-09-01 |
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