U.S. not crippling Iran sanctionsJune 10, 2010 - 13:39 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States and its allies won approval for the toughest UN sanctions against Iran for refusing to negotiate on its suspect nuclear program - but they're not "crippling" penalties U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed to pursue a year ago if U.S. attempts to engage Iran diplomatically failed. The big question now is whether the new sanctions will somehow persuade the Iranians to suspend their fast-expanding uranium enrichment program and sit down at the negotiating table with the U.S., China, Russia and other major powers who have offered a package of incentives if they do, AP reported. Three previous rounds of sanctions failed to get the Iranians into talks and Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed Wednesday's fourth round as "annoying flies, like a used tissue." The latest sanctions were approved by a vote of 12-2, with Lebanon abstaining and Brazil and Turkey voting "no." Yet, Secretary Clinton said that “Turkey and Brazil could play a role in future nuclear diplomacy with Iran despite having voted against the latest round of UN Security Council sanctions.” U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said new sanctions will pave the way for tougher additional measures by the U.S. and its allies. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |