Monday, August 4, 2008

Ahmadinejad assures Assad Iran is taking nuclear talks seriously

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday told visiting Syrian President and staunch regional ally BasharAssad that Tehran was serious about finding a practical solution to the nuclear crisis.

"We are serious in talks and we want the talks to be based on the law so it will bear practical results. We hope that other sides are serious too," Ahmadinejad told Assad in remarks broadcast live on staterun television.

On Saturday evening Ahmadinejad was quoted as telling his Syrian counterpart that Tehran "will not give up an inch on its nuclear rights."

His comments coincide with this weekend's US deadline for Iran to respond to an international package of incentives for it to freeze its drive to enrich uranium amid warnings of new sanctions if it does not.

After meeting Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili on July 19 in Geneva, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana asked for a response in two weeks, but "if it's in 16 days instead of 14 it's not a problem. We are not obsessed with a date," an EU diplomat said earlier on condition of anonymity.

The Syrian leader's visit fol lows a trip to Paris a month ago during which French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Syria to "persuade Iran" to prove that it is not seeking nuclear weapons.

"When we were in France we told them about the Syrian position on Iran's nuclear issue but they asked us if we have details of the Iranian program," Assad said on Sunday in Arabic through a translator.

"On this trip we got details, so in the future if we are asked again we know Iran's position." Iran has so far been slapped by three sets of Security Council resolutions demanding that it halt uranium enrichment. This process to produce fuel for nu clear power plants can also be used to make the fissile core of an atomic bomb if refined to significantly higher levels.

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Monday, July 28, 2008

Ministers expected to issue platform on 'Monday or Tuesday'

The ministerial committee tasked with drafting a policy platform met for the tenth time at the Grand Serail Sunday evening to pursue deliberations. As The Daily Star went to press on Sunday, the meeting had still not been adjourned.

Problematic issues such as Hizbullah's weapons, Syrian Lebanese ties and economic reforms have delayed the drafting of the statement.

Hizbullah and Amal ministers in the committee have insisted on dealing with the issue of the resistance and Hizbullah's arms "the same way it was dealt with in previous ministerial statements." Ministers from the March 14 Forces, conversely, reject the clause related to Hizbullah's arms in the previous policy statement.

But sources close to the presidential palace told The Daily Star on Sunday that the ministerial statement is expected to be announced "on Monday or Tuesday at the latest."

On Sunday, press reports indicated that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri came up with a "consensual formula" to end the debate over Hizbullah's arms, and allow the policy platform to be "swiftly" compiled.

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