And a brief follow-up to my post yesterday on the continuing conflict with Iran. It seems the Iranians are not backing down one bit. If the UN imposes sanctions, they claim they’ll close the strategic strait of Hormuz:
A senior Iranian official threatened that Tehran may forcibly prevent oil export via the Straits of Hormuz if the UN imposed economic sanctions due to Iran’s nuclear program, an Iranian news Web site said on Monday.
This is the first time an Iranian official makes military threats in a public statement on Tehran’s recent disagreements with the West.
The news site, affiliated with the radical student movement in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was once a member, quoted Mohammed-Nabi Rudaki, deputy chairman of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.
According to the report, Rudaki said that “if Europe does not act wisely with the Iranian nuclear portfolio and it is referred to the UN Security Council and economic or air travel restrictions are imposed unjustly, we have the power to halt oil supply to the last drop from the shores of the Persian Gulf via the Straits of Hormuz.”
And on that cheery note, what’s on your mind?
Anyone here an art historian or expert on Medieval art?
Not I, but why do you ask? Or is that too personal?
and my DiL has a Master’s in the subject. Tell me what you want to know and if I can’t answer with confidence, I’ll call her.
Bushco wouldn’t mind seeing gas at $10/gal? I mean, why should they care if Western civilization crashes while there are massive short-term profits to be had. They’ll be safe in their compounds guarded by Blackwater mercenaries, right?
The war words have been hot and flying. Reported in Israeli press is the official Iranian response to the speech given by Israel’s Defense Minister, Mofaz in that he said, “Israel would not accept Iran acquiring nuclear weapons under any circumstances.”:
Iran:”Israel will be put in ‘eternal coma’ if it attacks nuclear sites”
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/674719.html
These two are hurling towards the point where ‘saving face’ is not an option.
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MOSCOW/ST. PETERSBURG, January 25 (RIA Novosti) – Iran’s top negotiator at nuclear talks gave a cautious welcome to Russia’s proposal to establish a joint venture to enrich uranium for Iranian nuclear power plants on Russian territory and said Tehran wanted to continue talks with European Union representatives.
Ali Larijani, who is also the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary, was in Moscow for talks prior to the arrival of a larger delegation, which is due to arrive in the Russian capital on February 13.
The official said Tehran took a “positive” view on the Russian enrichment proposal, but cautioned that it would have to be discussed further at the February meeting. Larijani said “many aspects of the proposal” had to be resolved in relation to the implementation of the project, including the plant’s location, regulations for its employees, and the involvement of other nations in the project.
Russia’s proposal to enrich uranium for Iranian nuclear power plants on its own territory has been seen as a compromise with the potential to resolve the tension around Iran’s nuclear programs, which escalated after Iran abandoned a two-year moratorium on research into uranium enrichment January 10.
The move provoked concerns among other countries that Tehran could use the technology to produce weapons-grade material, as well as nuclear reactor fuel. The United States, which has consistently voiced its fears that the Islamic Republic is pursuing a secret weapons program, insisted that the country’s “nuclear file” be referred to the UN Security Council, which has the right to impose sanctions if it finds Iran to be in breach of its international commitments.
However, in an apparent bid to ease concerns Larijani also said Iran favored resuming talks on its nuclear program with a trio of European nations – Germany, Britain and France – or any other country recognizing its right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, with the predictable exception of Israel. Traditionally hostile relations between Iran and Israel deteriorated even further at the end of last year when the Islamic Republic’s new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , said Israel should be “wiped from the face of the map.”
“We are prepared to hold talks on the nuclear problem with all countries, except Israel, that recognize the right of Iran, an IAEA member, to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,” Larijani said referring to the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼▼▼ READ MY DIARY ▼
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