US gives Iran deadline for nuclear freeze

Source: Daily Dispatch

2008/07/22

US STATE Secretary Condoleezza Rice has warned Iran of “punitive measures” unless it responds seriously in two weeks to an international offer to freeze sensitive nuclear work.

Rice sought to tighten the screws on Tehran after taking the unprecedented step of sending a top diplomat, Undersecretary of State William Burns, to meet Iran’s chief negotiator Saeed Jalili for talks in Geneva.

The United States had until Saturday refused to sit with Iran on nuclear talks until it stopped enriching uranium, but changed course to show it was going the extra mile for a diplomatic solution.

The meeting sent a “very strong message to the Iranians that they can’t go and stall … and that they have to make a decision”, Rice told reporters on her way to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, yesterday. “ I think the diplomatic process now has a kind of new energy in it,” she said ..

Read more: http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=227520

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Brown warns Iran in Israel speech

Gordon Brown threatened Iran with tougher sanctions as he became the first British prime minister to address the Israeli parliament.

At the conclusion of his first trip to Jerusalem as Premier, Mr Brown vowed that Britain would stand by Israel's side as it faced threats to its existence.

Condemning as "abhorrent" Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call for Israel to be wiped from the map, he said he would not stand by as Tehran sought to acquire nuclear weapons.

The Prime Minister also urged Israel to seize the opportunity of lasting peace with the Palestinians. He was heckled at one point as he raised again the need for Israelis to withdraw from settlements on Palestinian land - an issue over which he clashed with his opposite number, Ehud Olmert, on Sunday ...

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5j_uyn0W7yEz2i2dxQDHGh9rXOXRw

looks more and more like the Bush regime wants to have a lock on uranium fuel sales to electricity generators for its corporate masters, and less and less like a legitimate or reasonable concern about nuclear weapons proliferation.

how you like them apples!!