Iran, Syria, Iraq: tensions remain high

There are continuing tensions across the Mideast region and beyond, as the four Western powers trying to rein in Iran's nuclear program on Thursday accused the Iran of shipping arms to Syria in violation of U.N. sanctions and ignoring demands to open key nuclear facilities to U.N. inspectors. The United States, Britain, France and Germany expressed growing concern that Iran's goal is building a nuclear arsenal _ not nuclear power plants for peaceful civilian use, as the government of the Islamic Republic insists. Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting in New York, France's Ambassador Gerard Araud accused Syrian president Bashar al-Assad of massacring his own people and urged rigorous implementation of sanctions to keep Iran from providing his forces with the arms. US Ambassador Susan Rice called on states in the region to “work together and redouble their efforts to deny, inspect and seize illicit Iranian shipments.” A country that has been in the spotlight is Iraq, which some reports say has been allowing Iranian arms shipments to make their way through Iraqi airspace – reports Iraq denies. Listen: