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'Queen of war' Rice, Bush must be tried at Int'l court: Iran's intelligence minister
An Iranian minister called US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 'the queen of war and violence' who must be hauled to the International Court of Justice along with President George W. Bush for their crimes around the world. "Mrs. Rice herself is a sponsor of terrorism and many crimes in Iraq, Palestine and other countries are being committed with her complicity. "If justice was to be done, Rice, Bush and their coteries should have been tried at the International Court of Justice," Intelligence inister Ali Younessi said. His statements came in response to Rice's last month remarks about Tehran, accusing the Islamic Republic of terrorism. "Mrs. Rice is the queen of war and violence...her remarks are not new and whenever she has found a podium she has said these hings," Younessi added. In a dramatic change of tactics, Washington offered Friday to allow Iran to begin talks on joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) and consider letting it buy civilian airline parts as part of incentives to Tehran over its nuclear cooperation. But Younessi rejected the offer as 'ridiculous and an insult to the great Iranian nation'. "The American authorities who have asked us to ignore our legitimate and obvious rights in return for the supply of few airplane parts which is their obligation must apologize to the Islamic Republic," he said. The intelligence minister stated that the offer was in line with the US policy 'to despise the Iranian nation'. Washington accuses Iran of seeking to build atomic bombs with its nuclear program, which Tehran insists is aimed at power generation. The new US stance is a change from Washington's previous hardline position that Iran deserves no reward even though the country allows snap inspection of its nuclear facilities by the UN experts. But Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said neither threats nor incentives would alter Iran's determination to develop peaceful nuclear technology. Iran is in the midst of negotiations with the Europeans to find a solution to the standoff, but several officials have lined up in recent days to warn that Tehran might be forced to abandon the diplomatic process if pressed too far. The key sticking point in the negotiations is uranium enrichment which Tehran has suspended as a confidence-building gesture since last November, but the country insists that it cannot be cajoled to sustain the suspension for good. The Europeans, represented by Germany, France and Britain, have been pressing the Islamic Republic on this in return for a package of incentives. Iran's pointsman on nuclear issues, Hassan Rowhani, sounded upbeat Thursday, describing the talks as 'successful'. "Our negotiations with the European sides on the country's nuclear technology have been successful so far," Rowhani, who is the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said in the southern city of Shiraz. The also official also blamed western media for a flurry of misgivings which remain in the air about Iran's nuclear intentions. "The enemies of the Islamic Republic, with their malicious propaganda against us, have created fear among the world countries. "Basically, we are not after a conquest; rather, we are after friendship, good neighborliness as well as detente and we believe wars, animosity and skirmishes lead the country to backwardness," Rowhani said. How can we expect that they won't build nuclear weapons when they speak like this? When they speak of peaceful nuclear technology, they really mean nuclear deterents against invasion. Iran thinks their playing the EU for suckers, they're trying to get as many incentives as they can, just like North Korea did, in the 90's, then went ahead with development. And say what can ya do about it? Posted by: (=Cobra=) 2005-03-13 |
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