Courtesy of BREITBART.com:

By GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press Writer

VIENNA, Austria

Iran remained defiant Thursday as a U.N. deadline arrived for it to halt uranium enrichment, and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said unanimity among the Security Council was not needed to take action against Tehran.

Key European nations will meet with Iran in September in a last-ditch effort to seek a negotiated solution to the standoff over Tehran’s refusal to freeze uranium enrichment, a senior U.N. diplomat said Thursday.

President Bush said “there must be consequences” for Iran, adding that the war between Tehran-backed Hezbollah militants and Israel demonstrated that “the world now faces a grave threat from the radical regime in Iran.”

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a report obtained by The Associated Press that Iran shows no signs of freezing enrichment, adding that Tehran started work on a new batch Aug. 24.

The confidential IAEA report will be given to its 35-nation board. That is expected to trigger U.N. Security Council members by mid- September to begin considering economic or political sanctions.

read more...

Sphere It