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Way to go, Switzerland!
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday called for developing relations with Switzerland.
In a meeting with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, President Ahmadinejad said that Iran is the land of culture and logic and welcomes friendly relations with other countries.
Source of the photo - http://www.president.ir/en
'Bern does not need US permission'
Tue, 18 Mar 2008
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey says her country does not need Washington's permission to advance its strategic interests.
"Switzerland is an independent country that has its own strategic interests to defend," Calmy-Rey said after the signing of a multibillion-dollar gas deal.
She shrugged off US criticism of her trip to Iran, in which she met the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=48040§ionid=351020101
Swiss Min Rejects US, Jewish Criticism Of Iranian Gas Deal
3-18-08 1:29 PM EDT
BERN (AP)--Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey Tuesday brushed aside U.S. and Jewish criticism of a multibillion-dollar gas deal she helped clinch with Iran, saying Switzerland doesn't need permission from the U.S. to advance its strategic interests.
The brusque remarks by Calmy-Rey, who has ruffled feathers in Washington and Jerusalem with her outspoken positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, threaten to escalate tensions over a 25-year natural gas contract announced Monday between Swiss energy trading company Elektrizitaets-Gesellschaft Laufenburg AG (EGL.EB) and the state-owned National Iranian Gas Export Company.
The agreement is worth between EUR18 billion and EUR27 billion.
"Switzerland is an independent country that has its own strategic interests to defend," Calmy-Rey told reporters.
Monday, the spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Bern said Washington had told the Swiss that "major new oil and gas deals with Iran send precisely the wrong message at a time when Iran continues to defy U.N. Security Council resolutions requiring it to suspend enrichment-related and reprocessing activities."
Lisbeth Keefe said the U.S. also was studying whether the deal violates the U.S. Iran Sanctions Act.
"But we believe the deal in any case violates the spirit of the sanctions," she said.
The deal has come under close scrutiny because of the sanctions imposed on Tehran by the U.N. Security Council over concerns about Iran's nuclear and missile program. The Iranian government says it only wants to produce atomic energy for peaceful use, but the U.S. and Israel accuse it of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
Calmy-Rey defended her trip to Iran, where she met Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and witnessed the signing of the gas accord.
READ MORE - http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet...J/200803181329DOWJONESDJONLINE000672_univ.xml
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday called for developing relations with Switzerland.
In a meeting with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, President Ahmadinejad said that Iran is the land of culture and logic and welcomes friendly relations with other countries.
Source of the photo - http://www.president.ir/en
'Bern does not need US permission'
Tue, 18 Mar 2008
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey says her country does not need Washington's permission to advance its strategic interests.
"Switzerland is an independent country that has its own strategic interests to defend," Calmy-Rey said after the signing of a multibillion-dollar gas deal.
She shrugged off US criticism of her trip to Iran, in which she met the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=48040§ionid=351020101
Swiss Min Rejects US, Jewish Criticism Of Iranian Gas Deal
3-18-08 1:29 PM EDT
BERN (AP)--Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey Tuesday brushed aside U.S. and Jewish criticism of a multibillion-dollar gas deal she helped clinch with Iran, saying Switzerland doesn't need permission from the U.S. to advance its strategic interests.
The brusque remarks by Calmy-Rey, who has ruffled feathers in Washington and Jerusalem with her outspoken positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, threaten to escalate tensions over a 25-year natural gas contract announced Monday between Swiss energy trading company Elektrizitaets-Gesellschaft Laufenburg AG (EGL.EB) and the state-owned National Iranian Gas Export Company.
The agreement is worth between EUR18 billion and EUR27 billion.
"Switzerland is an independent country that has its own strategic interests to defend," Calmy-Rey told reporters.
Monday, the spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Bern said Washington had told the Swiss that "major new oil and gas deals with Iran send precisely the wrong message at a time when Iran continues to defy U.N. Security Council resolutions requiring it to suspend enrichment-related and reprocessing activities."
Lisbeth Keefe said the U.S. also was studying whether the deal violates the U.S. Iran Sanctions Act.
"But we believe the deal in any case violates the spirit of the sanctions," she said.
The deal has come under close scrutiny because of the sanctions imposed on Tehran by the U.N. Security Council over concerns about Iran's nuclear and missile program. The Iranian government says it only wants to produce atomic energy for peaceful use, but the U.S. and Israel accuse it of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
Calmy-Rey defended her trip to Iran, where she met Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and witnessed the signing of the gas accord.
READ MORE - http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet...J/200803181329DOWJONESDJONLINE000672_univ.xml
