Alliance split over Iran nuclear defiance

[maddezmom]

VIENNA, Austria - Europeans are accusing Americans of strong-arming them into cracking down on Iran in the latest trans-Atlantic conflict straining efforts to maintain a joint front on Tehran and its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment.

U.S. officials, in turn, complain that Europe is not pulling its weight because individual nations are placing business interests above the common goal of keeping Iran from heading down a path that could lead to nuclear weapons.

~snip~

U.S. companies are barred from doing business with Iran, and a law Congress passed in 1996 allows Washington to penalize even foreign firms engaged in commerce with the Islamic republic.

EU foreign ministers called on all countries to enforce sanctions outlined in a U.N. resolution last month that targeted people and programs linked to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. But there is nothing comparable to the U.S. legislation in the European Union.

European officials say nothing obliges their countries to follow U.S. footsteps and choke off trade and economic ties with Iran beyond what is stipulated in the U.N. resolution.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070208/ap_on_re_mi_ea/squeezing_iran

[sam sarrha]

1. SOMEONE NEEDS TO TELL THE WORLD BU$H IS INSANE.!!!!! please someone in the EU needs to help us and

stand together and declare him Bat Shit Crazy.. please Nancy P.. stand up and stop this mad man

[Quakerfriend]

2. Top of the morning to you! I could not have said it better myself.

;)