Iran has WEEKS to decide nuclear course says US officialVIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has only weeks to decide whether to accept a U.S. offer of multilateral talks on the nuclear issue before Washington and its major power allies push forward with sanctions, a U.S. official said on Thursday.
- Snip -
Meanwhile, the United States will delay pursuing a U.N. Security Council resolution against Iran under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter until after Tehran responds to the U.S. talks proposal and the major power carrots-and-sticks package, U.S. officials said.
The Chapter 7 resolution would legally require Iran to halt enrichment and reprocessing activities as demanded by the Security Council. But veto-wielding Security Council members Russia and China opposed it, fearing it would touch off an oil crisis or set the stage for future U.S. military action against Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer.
Chapter 7, used in dozens of Security Council resolutions, allows for sanctions and even war, but a separate resolution is required to specify either step.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/01/AR2006060100371.htmlUS Iran proposal doesn't surprise Israel- big snip to last paragraph -
The source said that although he could not say where the negotiations might lead, they were a necessary precondition to any possible future use of force. Bush had to show his European allies, as well as his domestic audience, that he was willing to exhaust all diplomatic efforts to try and solve the problem, before gaining support for sanctions orpossibly resorting to military measures.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482085086&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Israel will hit Iran in the next few months: Israeli official
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
WASHINGTON: Israel will strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in the next “month or two or three,” an Israeli official has been quoted here as saying.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C05%5C09%5Cstory_9-5-2006_pg1_3