Iran Warns EU to Stop Warnings

Iran needs to back off from warning Iran about its nuclear activities, a senior Iranian official said yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 17).

“After restarting the activities at Isfahan, we stress that we should have the continuation of negotiations without any preconditions,” said Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran’s new foreign minister-designate, referring to uranium conversion work Iran resumed at the plant last week.

“Iran’s transparent, logical and legal handling (should) convince the European side to join negotiations,” Mottaki said, according to Agence France-Presse.

Russia, meanwhile, cautioned the United States not to use force in attempting to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“We consider that it would be counterproductive and dangerous to use force, the serious consequences of which would be barely predictable,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement seemingly directed at U.S. President George W. Bush’s recent statements refusing to rule out military options in dealing with Tehran (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Aug. 17).

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