Iran sanctions must be intensified, Israeli minister says
Published: Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Iran sanctions must be intensified, Israeli minister says
15:36GMT-11:36AM/EST
ISRAEL – EU – IRAN
Washington, 18 June (IranVNC)—The United Nations and the European Union must “intensify” sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Tzpi Livni, said in a meeting with the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini on 16 June.
“The time has come to intensify sanctions against Iran and to make them more effective, in the framework of both the UN Security Council and the European Union,” Livni said according a statement by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Iran today, once again rejected western demands to freeze its uranium enrichment program in exchange for technical cooperation on its civilian nuclear program and economic incentives.
In a speech at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London on a nuclear-free Middle East, Iran’s envoy to the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said: “America and its allies want to illegally force Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, but Iran will never give in to such illegal measures,” the state-run IRNA news agency reports.
Also on Monday, the European Union’s Slovenian presidency announced the 27-member bloc of nations would forge closer ties with Israel. Livini said the EU would and Israel would cooperate more closely in “political, economic, scientific, legal, cultural, educational and counterterrorism areas,” AFP reports. Neither party gave details about how long the process of forging closer ties would take AFP reports.
Sources: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Agence France-Presse, Islamic Republic News Agency
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