The stance of the West towards Iran appears to be hardening:
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – The United States and France rejected Iran’s request for more negotiations on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying Wednesday “there’s not much to talk about” after Iran resumed some atomic activities.
As European countries pushed ahead with efforts to have Iran brought before the U.N. Security Council for its nuclear activities, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused them of trying to deprive Iran of peaceful technology.
“We are asking they step down from their ivory towers and act with a little logic,” Ahmadinejad said. “Who are you to deprive us from fulfilling our goals?
“You think you are the lord of the world and everybody should follow you. But that idea is a wrong idea.”
Earlier, Iran’s foreign minister said he did not believe the country would be referred to the Security Council, which has the power to impose economic and political sanctions. However, diplomats say the council is unlikely to take those actions since China and Russia, two veto-wielding members, oppose referral.
Tehran’s defiant tone came as the United States and France rejected Iran’s request for a resumption of negotiations, saying Tehran must first suspend its atomic activities.
Iran asked for a ministerial-level meeting with France, Germany, Britain and the European Union, but its decision to resume some uranium enrichment-related activities “means that it is not possible for us to meet under satisfactory conditions to pursue these discussions,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau said in Paris.
“Iran must return to a complete suspension of these activities.”
In Washington, Rice and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also rejected any return to talks.
“There’s not much to talk about,” Rice said during a photo session at the State Department with Solana.
Rice said Iran must not be allowed to have a nuclear weapons capability or “to pursue activities that might to a nuclear weapons capability.”
Later, during a speech at Georgetown University, Rice said the international community was united in its belief that Iran “stepped over a line when it broke the seals” at its main uranium enrichment facility and resumed reprocessing nuclear fuel.
“The Iranians want to make this about their rights. It’s not about their rights,” Rice said. “It’s about the ability of the international system to trust them with the capabilities and technologies that could lead to a nuclear weapon.
“They have a history with IAEA of not disclosing, with covering their activities and so no one does trust them with those technologies.”
Solana agreed that “there is not much point” in resuming talks if there is “nothing new on the table.”
I just heard Gen. Wesley Clark being interviewed on Fox News. Clark said that he believed that the negotiations that have taken place between the EU-3 and Iran should have been undertaken long ago (which I agree with), that military action should be on the table, and that, unless something changes, it strongly appears as though some kind of military action will be taken.
UPDATE: Trent Lott was just interviewed. With respect to Iran he called for using a broad array of the measures at our disposal including sanctions and, down the road, possible military action and acting in concord with the other Security Council members and our European allies. He also commented, somewhat wryly I thought, that he had learned to take intelligence reports with a grain of salt.
