Iranian chief defies U.N. pressure
Iran’s supreme leader struck a defiant tone Wednesday against any possible new U.N. Security Council sanctions against his country’s nuclear program, threatening to “use any means necessary” to strike back.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a televised address marking the beginning of Noruz, the Persian New Year, said Iran would respond in kind to punitive measures. He blamed the country’s domestic cleavages on foreign powers.
“If they want to threaten us and use force and violence, they should have no doubt that Iranians will use any means necessary to strike a blow against those who assault them,” said Khamenei, Iran’s spiritual, political and military chief, in a speech from his hometown in the eastern Iranian city of Mashad.
The Security Council is debating additional sanctions on Iran to compel it to halt uranium enrichment, including an embargo on Iran’s weapons exports, an asset freeze for a major bank and people and companies involved in the nuclear and missile program.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Blast on submarine kills British sailors
An explosion aboard a nuclear-powered Royal Navy submarine under an Arctic ice cap killed two British sailors and injured a crewmember, officials said Wednesday.
The forward compartment of the HMS Tireless was damaged in the explosion at 8:20 p.m. local time Tuesday, but the British Ministry of Defense said its nuclear reactor was not affected.
The attack submarine, which does not carry nuclear missiles, was conducting a joint exercise with U.S. forces when its air purification system malfunctioned while the vessel was submerged about 170 miles north of Deadhorse, in northern Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay.
According to the U.S. Navy, a self-contained oxygen generation candle exploded.
The submarine surfaced, breaking through the ice, and a private helicopter brought the injured sailor to Deadhorse, where an Alaska Air National Guard aircraft transported him to Kulis Air National Guard Base in Anchorage, 625 miles south.
KINGSTON, Jamaica
Evidence collected in death of coach
Forensic experts searched for evidence Wednesday in the hotel room where Pakistan’s cricket coach died under what police called “suspicious” circumstances, but authorities said they had reached no conclusions about the case.
As the forensics team completed its work, investigators awaited the pathologist’s findings on what killed Bob Woolmer, whose body was found a day after his team was upset by Ireland in the Cricket World Cup.
“There is no evidence it’s a homicide but we’re waiting for further information from the pathologist before we make any more statements,” Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields told the Associated Press.
Woolmer, who was 58 and lived in South Africa, was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on Sunday morning and pronounced dead at a local hospital. The previous day, Pakistan was stunned by Ireland in a St. Patrick’s Day victory that assured Pakistan’s early ouster from the World Cup, which is being played in the Caribbean.
A Pakistan team official said there was blood and vomit in the room and Woolmer was found by hotel staff on the floor with his mouth wide open.