The five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany will meet today in London to discuss further options to pressure Iran to suspend its uranium-enrichment program.
On February 25, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said Iran had the technology to produce nuclear fuel, and its program now was like a train "which has no brake and no reverse gear."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States was ready to talk to Iran on trade and political issues if Tehran halted weapons-related activities.
The UN nuclear agency reported last week that Iran had ignored a UN Security Council ultimatum to freeze its uranium-enrichment program and instead had expanded the program by setting up hundreds of centrifuges.
In December, the Security Council imposed some sanctions on Iran over its refusal to suspend enrichment and gave it 60 days to halt enrichment. That grace period expired on February 21.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Said Jalili today accused the global powers of spawning the crisis of confidence.
"The great powers have to put an end to our worries and respect the right of Iran," Jalili said, according to the Fars News Agency. "We have done what was necessary to put an end to their worries. It is their job now to end our worries and win our confidence."
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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