|
Iran-Nuclear: Britain certain Iran developing long-range weapons |
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, 30 November 2005 |
NCRI, LONDON – Jack Straw, British Foreign Secretary said Tuesday it
was an "incontrovertible" fact that Iran was developing long-range
missiles, According to Agence France Presse. But he stopped short of
asserting that Tehran was using its fledgling nuclear program --
currently under intense scrutiny by the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) -- to develop nuclear weapons.
In reply to a question in the British parliament's House of Commons,
asking what plans were in place to deal with the "doomsday situation"
of Iranian weapons being developed capable of reaching England's south
coast, Straw said: "The fact that the government of Iran is developing
longer range missiles is incontrovertible. Whether they are using their
nuclear power program to develop nuclear weapons is not yet
incontrovertible.
"There is a lot of circumstantial evidence which has raised significant
anxieties in the minds of the international community.” Straw said he
believed Iran was "at the very least developing options for a nuclear
weapons program.”
Iranian regime could face UN Security Council sanctions over its
nuclear program, which the United States and other nations suspect is a
front for developing a weapons capability, and therefore non-compliant
with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
Relations with the European Union, the United States and other Western
countries have been further strained since hardline President of the
clerics, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called in October for Israel to be "wiped
off the map."
Straw's comments came after Tehran rejected a compromise plan to allow
Russia to conduct uranium enrichment -- a process which can make both
nuclear fuel and the explosive core of a weapon -- on their behalf.
Iranian regime’s nuclear negotiator, Javad Vaidi, said Tuesday they
will only accept a plan to make nuclear fuel inside the country and
would not continue talks about the program with the threat of UN
sanctions hanging over them.
|
English
Francais
Deutsch
Italiano
العربيّة
