Rumsfeld warns Tehran on flow of arms to Iraq / Korea warns US to change its policy

Tensions
between the US and Iran have escalated, with the Secretary of Defence,
Donald Rumsfeld, saying that new sophisticated weapons found in Iraq
had clearly come from Iran and President George Bush saying he was
"deeply suspicious" of the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions.

Mr Rumsfeld said he did not know whether the
weapons had been sent to Iraq by the Iranian Government or "from other
parties in that country".

"What we do know is that the Iranians did not stop them coming in [to Iraq]," he said at a Pentagon press conference.

While Mr Rumsfeld did not specify the sort of
weapons he was talking about, Pentagon officials point to the more
lethal bombs used by insurgents in recent times. One such bomb killed
14 US marines last week in north-west Iraq when their lightly armoured
amphibious vehicle was destroyed by a roadside blast.

"These weapons are a problem for the Iraqi
Government, for the coalition forces, for the international community
and ultimately it's a problem for Iran," Mr Rumsfeld said. He said this
was not meant as a threat, but as a warning to the Iranians that they
"live in the neighbourhood" and most people in the region want the
violence in Iraq to end.

As Mr Rumsfeld was accusing Iran of arming
insurgents in Iraq, Mr Bush told a press conference that he was "deeply
suspicious" of Iran's nuclear intentions, but that the country's new
President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had indicated that he wanted
negotiations with European Union representatives to continue.

"I think that's a positive sign that the Iranians
are getting a message that it's not just the United States that's
worried about their nuclear programs, but the Europeans are serious in
calling the Iranians to account and negotiating," he said.

Mr Bush stopped short of calling for the EU and the
US to refer Iran's alleged breaches of its obligations under the
nuclear non-proliferation treaty to the United Nations Security
Council, saying there was still a chance that negotiations between the
EU three - France, Germany and Britain - would succeed.

But State Department officials were pessimistic. A
spokesman, Adam Ereli, said the US was prepared to "give Iran one last
chance" to negotiate a deal with "our EU allies" before seeking to
refer Tehran to the Security Council, though he conceded that getting
the council to agree on sanctions would be tough.

Russia and China have indicated they would veto any resolution imposing sanctions on Iran.

Iran said on Monday it would resume uranium
enrichment at its nuclear plant in Isfahan, rejecting a EU package of
economic and technological incentives in return for an agreement to
halt all uranium enrichment work.

A hastily convened meeting in Vienna of the
International Atomic Energy Agency has so far been unable to persuade
Iran to halt the resumption of its nuclear program, even though Russia
has joined in urging Iran to do so.

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North Korea has put the onus squarely on the US to
resolve the stand-off in nuclear disarmament negotiations, saying
Washington must drop its insistence that Pyongyang abandon plans for a
nuclear power plant.

Kim Kye-gwan, the North's chief negotiator in the
six-nation disarmament talks being held in Beijing, which began a
recess on Sunday, made no mention of the other five nations in the
negotiations and suggested no further flexibility on his part.

North Korea's "stand on the nuclear issue is very
clear," China's Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying on Tuesday.
"Now it's up to the US to change its policy."