Today's Iran News (July 31, 2008)

Mottaki dismisses two-week Geneva deadline Iran's Foreign Minister Mottaki said today that no deadline was set by major powers during talks earlier this month in Geneva for Iran to respond to an incentives proposal for suspension of uranium enrichment. "The language of deadline-setting is not understandable to us," Mottaki said today in Tehran. "We gave our response within a month, as we said we would, and [now] they have to give their reply." EU foreign policy chief Solana and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have both said that Iran was given a two-week deadline, which expires this Saturday, to respond to the 5+1 offer. "We fulfilled our commitment and gave Tehran's two-page proposal to them and my understanding of the talks is that those proposals should be studied and the common axiom modalities should be considered," Mottaki said today, adding that the major powers agreed at the 19 July meeting in Geneva to find common ground on the two proposals. According to the New York Times, the proposal called for seven more rounds of talks and made no mention of the 5+1 proposal. Meanwhile, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asqar Soltanieh, described demands that it suspend its uranium enrichment activities as "non-constructive", warning that it could damage progress made in the nuclear dispute. Gates: Iran, North Korea threaten "international order" Secretary of Defense Gates has approved a new National Defense Strategy which singles out Iran and North Korea as threats to the "international order", reports the Washington Post newspaper. In the 23-page document, which has not yet been released, Gates warns that Iran merits US concern, but says the war against violent extremism will be the country's top priority in coming years. The report says: "Iraq and Afghanistan remain the central fronts in the struggle, but we cannot lose sight of the implications of fighting a long-term, episodic, multi-front and multi-dimensional conflict more complex and diverse than the Cold War confrontation with communism." He said that economic development programs and "efforts to understand the grievances that often lie at the heart of insurgencies" would be needed to thwart the spread of extremism. NAM conference closes, issues declaration The 115 member nations of the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) stated the right of all states to the peaceful use of nuclear energy yesterday as the three-day conference of NAM foreign ministers concluded in Tehran. The diplomats involved in drafting the declaration told Reuters on Tuesday that Iran had originally pushed for much stronger language in support of its nuclear activities, but was rebuffed. According to BBC Persian, they also said that Iran had suggested that the declaration should depict UN sanctions against Iran as "politically motivated" and that the sanctions should be immediately nullified. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates were among the countries that rejected such inclusion.

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