Friday, January 28, 2005

Biden serves up Iran.


Sen. Joseph Biden and Iran's foreign minister clashed Friday over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, with Biden hinting at the possibility of armed conflict unless fears of an Iranian weapons program were put to rest.
The rare and frank public exchange between a senior American politician and a ranking member of the Iranian government came at a dinner during the World Economic Forum held in this Alpine resort town.
Biden spoke after Kharrazi had said his country's insistence on the right to uranium enrichment was not up for debate at present talks with Germany, France and Britain designed to banish fears over Iran's nuclear plans. Iran has suspended all enrichment activities during the negotiations but has refused to mothball the program, which can be used to produce fuel for reactors or the core of nuclear warheads.
"Iran cannot be ignored," said Kharrazi. Repeating that his country had no intentions of producing nuclear arms, he said that nonetheless, "Iran's rights cannot be denied."
Biden said that both liberal and conservative U.S. government politicians believed "that it is not in our interest ... for you to acquire nuclear capability for nuclear weapons and intermediate or long range missile technology."

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