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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Six powers resume talks on Iran sanctions |
| 2010-04-15 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Envoys of six major powers met Wednesday to discuss substantive bargaining for new UN sanctions against Iran as the head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency said the Islamic Republic could build a nuclear bomb in as little as a year. The meeting, following a similar exploratory one held last week, was to focus on a U.S. draft resolution outlining sanctions in five areas: arms embargo, energy, shipping, finance and targeted punitive measures against Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards, a diplomat familiar with the discussions said. Diplomats said they anticipated drawn-out discussions on the text and hinted a vote by the full 15-member council might not take place until June. The closed-door meeting comes two days after foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States discussed the issue in Washington on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit. The ministers confirmed that substantive negotiations on a fourth round of U.N. sanctions on Iran can proceed at ambassador level here in New York, diplomats said. Tuesday, a top Chinese official said in Washington that China, a veto-wielding Security Council member which has close energy and economic ties with Tehran, was ready to discuss "new ideas" on Iran. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said China still favored continued negotiations to resolve the dispute over Iran's controversial nuclear drive, but said it was open to discussion. The United States and its Western allies believe Tehran is using uranium enrichment as a cover to build nuclear weapons, a claim the Iranians deny. Meanwhile Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess told a Senate panel that Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium with the number of centrifuges it has installed to build one nuclear bomb in a year. The general consensus -- not knowing again the exact number of centrifuges that we actually have visibility into -- is we're talking one year," Burgess said. However If Tehran makes the decision to develop an atomic arsenal, including enrich uranium to weapons grade, "experience says that it's going to take 3-5 years" for them to have a nuclear weapon, General James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told lawmakers. Michele Flournoy, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, said Obama has made clear all options are on the table to rein in Iran's nuclear program but that "military options are not preferable and we continue to believe that the most effective approach at this point in time is the combination of diplomacy and pressure." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 DRUDGEREPORT > RUSSIA DECLARES: IRAN NUCLEAR REACTOR READY IN AUGUST. VARIOUS NETTERS > are interpreting this News as a de facto failure of POTUS BAMMER to keep one of his major Campaign + Admin promises??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-04-15 01:04 |