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Iraqi urges Muslims to denounce terror
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-15 23:15
The conference has sought to sidestep direct political squabbles despite some
clear differences, including an Iranian delegation led by former President
Mohammad Khatami and a U.S. presence directed by Daniel Fried, assistant
secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs.
But Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik made a diplomatic jab
apparently aimed at Khatami's hard-line successor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who last
month said Israel should be "wiped off the map."
"It is not acceptable at all to question the right of existence of another,"
said Plassnik, whose nation takes over the European Union presidency Jan. 1.
Austria has one of the closest ties with Iran among the EU members.
Fried also used the sidelines of the conference to amplify U.S. claims that
Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is
only for energy-producing reactors.
"The world should contemplate a nuclear weapons-armed Iran with the greatest
of concern," Fried told journalists. The International Atomic Energy Agency's
35-nation board holds a key meeting on Iran's nuclear program next week at its
Vienna headquarters
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