UNITED NATIONS, Sept 17: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the United Nations on Saturday to be tough with Iran over its nuclear ambitions and said the Security Council must act when diplomacy was exhausted.
While asking the UN to be firm, Ms Rice said there was still time for diplomacy and Tehran must resume nuclear talks that broke down last month with the Europeans.
Tehran insists its atomic program is for civilian energy purposes, but the United States and other Western powers say it is aimed at building nuclear weapons.
“It (the United Nations) must be able to deal with great challenges like terrorism and nuclear proliferation, especially when countries like Iran threaten the effectiveness of the global non-proliferation regime,” said Ms Rice in her first speech to the UN General Assembly.
“When diplomacy has been exhausted, the Security Council must become involved,” Ms Rice added.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency is set to consider on Monday whether to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions, a move the United States has been pushing.
Ms Rice’s spokesman quoted her as saying it was up to the Iranians to take the initiative and return to nuclear talks with the European powers, Germany, France and Britain, which have taken the lead on negotiations.
“Yes, there is still time for diplomacy but it’s up to the Iranians to seize the opportunity,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said of Ms Rice’s comments.
A prepared version of Ms Rice’s speech had included harsher language about Tehran, describing it as a “leading state sponsor of terrorism” whose nuclear ambitions threatened peace hopes in the Middle East.
The Iranian president called in the interview with CNN for a special UN committee to control the spread of atomic weapons.
Ms Rice has been in New York for most of the week, holding meetings with key foreign leaders on the sidelines of a UN summit to try persuade them to act against Iran.
After her address, Ms Rice met South African President Thabo Mbeki whom she tried to convince to join in pushing for a U.N referral but the African powerhouse seemed noncommittal.
“I think they (South Africa) were more in a position of watching how the diplomacy unfolds,” said McCormack.
UN REFORM: Ms Rice also used her speech to stress the need to reform the United Nations and equip the world body to tackle problems such as terrorism, weapons proliferation, pandemic disease and trafficking in human beings.
“For this institution to become an engine of change in the 21st century, it must now change itself. The United Nations must launch a lasting revolution of reform,” said Ms Rice.
World leaders on Friday endorsed moderate reforms of the United Nations at the end of a 60th anniversary summit that made only limited progress on fighting poverty and terrorism, boosting security or protecting human rights.
The United States has been among the most vocal critics of the United Nations, which many in Congress see as a bloated and inefficient body, particularly after revelations of corruption and mismanagement of the UN-run Iraq oil-for-food program and a sex abuse scandal involving peacekeepers.
Ms Rice said the United States was open to expanding the UN Security Council and said Washington had long supported a permanent seat for Japan, although it has repeatedly sought delays in moves to enlarge the 15-nation council. —Reuters
