Iran Nuclear News: August 4, 2006

“Iran Cleric: Shut down Security Council,” Reuters, August 4, 2006
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the Guardian Council, said on Friday that the U.N. Security Council should be scrapped for trying to make Iran halt its atomic work while failing to stop Israel's offensive against Lebanon. Some hardline student groups and Islamic militiamen vowed to attack the British embassy in Tehran after Jannati's sermon.

“China calls for continuing diplomatic efforts to solve Iran’s nuclear issue,” People’s Daily Online, August 4, 2006
Chinese Deputy Representative to the UN Liu Zhenming stressed that a belated appropriate solution to Iran's nuclear issue is due to lack of trust among main parties involved, and that Security Council cannot handle this issue single-handedly. “Dialogue and negotiations are the only way out,” he said, “The IAEA should always be the main mechanism for dealing with this issue.” Liu stressed that it is essential for Iran and all the parties concerned not to take any steps that will harm diplomatic efforts and may lead to complication or even loss of control.

“Israel would be safer in a nuclear-free Middle East,” Telegraph, August 4, 2006
Sir Alistair Horne, a former British intelligence officer, assesses the current crisis in the Middle East, saying it is potentially more dangerous than Yom Kippur, 1973, because it carries with it the “threat of unquantifiable escalation.” This threat of escalation is immediate, he claims, with the ultimate danger being an Iran equipped with nuclear weapons. He calls for a nuclear-free zone for the Middle East, questioning the overall value of the “nuclear deterrent” outside America. Such an initiative, plus the guarantee of the essential protective blanket to cover a denuked Israel, can only come from the White House. This may be the only way, he argues, that a nuclear attack in the Middle East can be forestalled.


“Not a war between US and Iran,” Channel 4 News, UK, August 3, 2006
In an exclusive interview, the UK’s Channel 4 news asked Iranian National Security Advisor Ali Larijani whether the Israel-Lebanon crisis was a proxy war. Larijani responded that the Middle East crisis was not “a war between the US and Iran.”