Source: VOA News
Iranian officials say defense forces will practice aerial defense maneuvers
against a simulated enemy next week to prepare for any attack against the
country's nuclear facilities.
In an interview published in Iran's semi-official Fars news agency, Brigadier
General Ahmad Mighani said the large-scale drills will begin Sunday.
Iran often holds defensive drills and announces military advances to show its
readiness to fight any threat to its disputed nuclear program.
Friday, officials from six world powers, including the Unites States, expressed
disappointment at Iran's refusal to accept a U.N.-brokered plan aimed at
alleviating international concerns that Iran is developing atomic weapons.
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said his country will not process
its enriched uranium abroad as proposed in the plan and will consider only a
uranium-for-fuel swap inside Iran.
The head of the U.N. nuclear agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, urged Iran to accept the
offer. He said Friday that he hopes Iran will not miss what he called a "unique
but fleeting opportunity."
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the United
States continues to hope that Iran will react positively to the uranium
enrichment deal.
Meanwhile, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu expressed his country's
willingness to help solve the Iranian nuclear controversy through diplomacy.
Turkey's Anatolia news agency says Davutoglu made the comments after talks
Friday with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Iranian city of Tabriz.
Iran has not suspended its uranium enrichment activities, despite three rounds
of U.N. Security Council sanctions. Officials at the Brussels meeting say there
was no talk of imposing additional sanctions on Iran.
Diplomats are expected to meet again late next month.
Enriched uranium produces fuel that can be used for civilian purposes or, in
highly enriched form, for nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for
peaceful purposes.
... Payvand News - 11/21/09 ... --
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