Iran, a country which the rest of the world fears is developing a nuclear weapon, is holding a conference on nuclear disarmament this week in response to this week’s U.N. nuclear security summit in Washington, D.C.
Even as envoys of the world’s most powerful states met on Wednesday to discuss sanctions on the Islamic regime, over 6,200 miles away, officials in Tehran were putting the finishing touches on a conference, which it hopes will show the United States as the aggressor.
Ambassadors from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council—the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China—and Germany, met for the second time in a week on Wednesday to discuss a U.S. draft resolution on possible energy sanctions on Iran.
Western states fear that Tehran is developing a nuclear weapon, a claim the Islamic republic denies.
U.S. President Barack Obama pressed 46 countries attending the Washington summit on Tuesday for a reduction in the world’s stockpile of nuclear weapons. He also called for fresh sanctions against Iran.
Not to be outdone, Tehran will host its own summit on April 17, titled “Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for No One.”
Mehdi Akhoundzadeh, Iranian deputy foreign minister said that the conference has a humanitarian objective.
“The assumption that nuclear weapons are a deterrent is archaic,” he told the Tehran Times. “Given the fundamental transformation in international relations, nations look forward to peace and security. Thus, insistence on [possessing] nuclear weapons is not considered a wise move.”
However, the country has sent mixed messages. On Wednesday, representatives announced at high-level U.N. discussions that Iran had produced 11 pounds of 20 percent enriched uranium—in direct defiance of security council demands to stop enrichment.
Iran has previously claimed that it has the capacity to enrich to a higher degree, which is needed to develop nuclear weapons.
Earlier this week, the Obama administration released its new Nuclear Posture Review, which retains the option of a nuclear strike against Iran “in extreme circumstances.”
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responded in a strongly worded letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday protesting the statement.
“Such inflammatory statements which are tantamount to nuclear blackmail against a non-nuclear weapon state” are a violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the U.N. Charter, Ahmadinejad wrote.
Ahmadinejad called the U.S. statement a “threat to international peace and security.”
The statement comes as Obama is desperately trying to garner support from the United States’ reluctant ally China over new sanctions against Iran.
Owing to strong economic ties between Beijing and Tehran, the United States may fail to secure the crippling sanctions it may need to dislodge the country’s nuclear program.
“The Chinese want something much, much weaker and much, much narrower” than the U.S. draft, a senior American diplomat told Reuters.
According to the news agency, state-run Chinaoil recently sold a total of about 600,000 barrels of gasoline worth around $55 million to the Islamic republic.
Although Russia has shown slightly more enthusiasm for sanctions, it is also expected to push for watering down the tough U.S. measures.
“If we speak about energy sanctions, I'll give you my opinion. I think that we are unlikely to achieve a consolidated position in the world community on this issue,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with ABC television this week.
Even as envoys of the world’s most powerful states met on Wednesday to discuss sanctions on the Islamic regime, over 6,200 miles away, officials in Tehran were putting the finishing touches on a conference, which it hopes will show the United States as the aggressor.
Ambassadors from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council—the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China—and Germany, met for the second time in a week on Wednesday to discuss a U.S. draft resolution on possible energy sanctions on Iran.
Western states fear that Tehran is developing a nuclear weapon, a claim the Islamic republic denies.
U.S. President Barack Obama pressed 46 countries attending the Washington summit on Tuesday for a reduction in the world’s stockpile of nuclear weapons. He also called for fresh sanctions against Iran.
Not to be outdone, Tehran will host its own summit on April 17, titled “Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for No One.”
Mehdi Akhoundzadeh, Iranian deputy foreign minister said that the conference has a humanitarian objective.
“The assumption that nuclear weapons are a deterrent is archaic,” he told the Tehran Times. “Given the fundamental transformation in international relations, nations look forward to peace and security. Thus, insistence on [possessing] nuclear weapons is not considered a wise move.”
However, the country has sent mixed messages. On Wednesday, representatives announced at high-level U.N. discussions that Iran had produced 11 pounds of 20 percent enriched uranium—in direct defiance of security council demands to stop enrichment.
Iran has previously claimed that it has the capacity to enrich to a higher degree, which is needed to develop nuclear weapons.
Earlier this week, the Obama administration released its new Nuclear Posture Review, which retains the option of a nuclear strike against Iran “in extreme circumstances.”
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad responded in a strongly worded letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday protesting the statement.
“Such inflammatory statements which are tantamount to nuclear blackmail against a non-nuclear weapon state” are a violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the U.N. Charter, Ahmadinejad wrote.
Ahmadinejad called the U.S. statement a “threat to international peace and security.”
The statement comes as Obama is desperately trying to garner support from the United States’ reluctant ally China over new sanctions against Iran.
Owing to strong economic ties between Beijing and Tehran, the United States may fail to secure the crippling sanctions it may need to dislodge the country’s nuclear program.
“The Chinese want something much, much weaker and much, much narrower” than the U.S. draft, a senior American diplomat told Reuters.
According to the news agency, state-run Chinaoil recently sold a total of about 600,000 barrels of gasoline worth around $55 million to the Islamic republic.
Although Russia has shown slightly more enthusiasm for sanctions, it is also expected to push for watering down the tough U.S. measures.
“If we speak about energy sanctions, I'll give you my opinion. I think that we are unlikely to achieve a consolidated position in the world community on this issue,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with ABC television this week.
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