US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice threatened Iran with more sanctions Thursday after it failed to give an adequate response to the latest bid by Western powers to induce it to freeze uranium enrichment.
"Iran has a way out if they ever wish, but we will seriously pursue sanctions if they don't," said Rice.
"You have to hope that there are reasonable people in Iran who see this as not the way to run a country."
Tehran's latest response to a demand for the enrichment freeze in exchange for trade and technology incentives "is not a really serious answer," she said in her first comments since six world powers discussed the matter in a Wednesday conference call.
Washington and its allies say Iran's nuclear program could be a cover to develop atomic weapons. Iran insists it has the right to develop nuclear technology, which it says is aimed at generating electricity for its growing population.
Meanwhile George W. Bush arrived in China last night for an extended "working vacation" during which the US President will take in the Olympics, but will simultaneously be pressuring China on its human rights record (ie. The Tiananmen Square Massacre) and discussing options with Chinese leader Hu Jintao about the oil pipeline the USA is helping to construct across the Middle-East to China's border with Afghanistan.
George W. Bush has toned down demands on Iran in recent months in preparation for the coming US election in November.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments containing links will be marked as spam and not approved. We moderate every comment. If you want to advertise on this blog it is $30 per link.