US rejects Russia’s proposal for talks: Iran issue
WASHINGTON, March 10: The UNited States rejected a Russian proposal on Friday for international crisis talks before any UN Security CoUNcil action to resolve the Iranian nuclear impasse.
“The next talks are going to be at the Security Council early next week,” UNdersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters when asked about Moscow’s call for crisis talks with Beijing, the European Union and Washington to reach a consensus on managing the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear programme without taking action at the council.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had said that although the situation was critical, ‘this does not mean that now we must now all go to the Security CoUNcil and start demanding, threatening and carrying out threats.
“This just means that now everyone must get together and collectively sort out a new consensus on what our strategy will be at the current time,” Mr Lavrov said, adding that Russia, leading EU countries, and China were ready for such a meeting. “I am sure that the US will also take part.”
But Mr Burns said Iran had defied a deal between the United States, Russia and several others in the international community that gave Tehran a 30-day grace period for diplomacy before the world body decides what measures, if any, to take.
“So early next week we begin discussions in the Security Council,” he said, adding that ‘it will shine a very bright spotlight on Iran.
“We will ask Iran to suspend its nuclear program and return to negotiations and should Iran not do that, the Security Council, we believe, should take a series of graduated steps designed to increase the pressure on the Iranian regime,” Mr Burns said.
EU WARNING: The European Union insisted on Friday that diplomatic efforts can still defuse the escalating Iranian nuclear crisis, but warned of UN sanctions if Tehran refuses to back down.
The bloc’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana issued the warning as EU foreign ministers gathered for talks clouded by the Iranian standoff after it was referred to the UN Security Council.
“I don’t rule out sanctions, it depends on what kind of sanctions,” he told the Austrian daily Der Standard. “Let’s wait and see what the Security Council will do. We must weigh up all options,” he said.
Iran has shot up the political agenda after EU diplomatic efforts to engage Tehran broke down following the resumption of key atomic activities.
While Mr Solana warned of sanctions in a newspaper interview, at the Salzburg talks themselves he was more circumspect.
“I don’t talk about sanctions,” he told reporters on arrival at the talks. “Everything is on the table. Everything is open. I don’t think this is the moment for that... This is still the moment for the gradual approach.”
Britain’s Jack Straw — a member of the so-called EU-3 along with France and Germany who have spearheaded Europe’s diplomatic drive with Tehran — also voiced hopes for diplomacy.—AFP
