TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – European powers, supported by the United States, rejected Iran’s request for more negotiations on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying Wednesday “there’s not much to talk about” after Iran resumed atomic activities.
As European countries pushed ahead to have Iran brought before the U.N. Security Council for its nuclear activities, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused them of trying to deprive Iran of peaceful technology.
“We are asking they step down from their ivory towers and act with a little logic,” Ahmadinejad said. “Who are you to deprive us from fulfilling our goals?
“You think you are the lord of the world and everybody should follow you. But that idea is a wrong idea.”
In Vienna, Austria, the International Atomic Energy Agency said a special meeting of its 35-nation board of governors would be held Feb. 2 at the request of Britain, France and Germany, which have been negotiating with Tehran on behalf of the European Union.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said European nations were seeking the “greatest possible consensus” on dealing with Iran, and the upcoming meeting was a “very important moment.”
“What we wish is that there is the greatest possible consensus to mark clearly the limit of what we can accept,” he said in Berlin after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.