Iran Nuclear Watch Briefing: April 19, 2006 Morning
U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns gestures as he speaks during a news conference in Moscow, Wednesday, April 19, 2006. Burns said Wednesday that a majority of the countries that are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Group of Eight members support possible sanctions against Iran in the dispute over the country’s nuclear program.
ASSociated Press: U.S.: More Countries Back Iran Sanctions
A top U.S. diplomat said Wednesday that most of the U.N. Security Council’s permanent members and the Group of Eight support possible sanctions against Iran in the dispute over that country’s nuclear program.
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns also said the United States has not given up on efforts to resolve the dispute through diplomacy. Earlier this week, President Bush said “all options are on the table” — including the military option — to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons.
“Nearly every country is considering some sort of sanctions and that’s new,” Burns told reporters after two days of meetings in Moscow.
He declined to specify which countries support possible sanctions. Russia and China, both of which are permanent Security Council members, are seen as the most likely to resist sanctions.
ASSociated Press: U.S. May Turn to Watchdog Agency on Iran
The United States may turn to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency to exert more pressure on Iran over its atomic program out of frustration with Russian and Chinese opposition to firm Security Council action, diplomats said Wednesday.
The diplomats, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal the American initiative, said the U.S. delegation to the International Atomic Energy Agency had contacted other national delegations over the past few days to gauge support for a special IAEA board meeting on Iran.
Reuters: Iran unlikely to meet UN demands: Straw
Britain does not expect Iran to comply with U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment by the end of April, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Wednesday.
“We are working on the basis that Iran will not meet the proposals from the Security Council on the 30-day deadline,” Straw told BBC Radio Four in an interview from Saudi Arabia.
He declined to say later to reporters what action he thought the Security Council might then take.
Bloomberg.com: Iran Facing `Isolation, Costs’ Over Nuclear Stance (Update1)
Envoys meeting in Moscow to discuss Iran’s nuclear development agreed the Islamic Republic must face international action for defying the United Nations by enriching uranium, said Nicholas Burns, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs.
“All of us want to take one collective, multilateral action in New York at the Security Council,” Burns told reporters. The delegates share a “general notion that Iran has to feel the isolation and pressure of the international community and they have to have some costs to what they are doing,” he said.
A majority of the delegations agreed that sanctions against Iran are necessary, without deciding on specifics, Burns said. He spoke after two days of meetings to discuss the standoff with representatives from the four other permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
AFP: US demands end to Russia-Iran nuclear cooperation
The United States demanded an end to Russia’s cooperation with Iran in building the Islamic republic’s first civilian nuclear power station.
“We also think it is important for countries to stop cooperation with Iran on nuclear issues, even on civilian nuclear issues like the Bushehr facility,” US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns told journalists in Moscow.
Burns made clear that he was talking about various countries’ work with Iran’s nuclear industry. However, Russia is Iran’s biggest nuclear partner and is building the country’s first atomic power station at Bushehr.
“A number of countries are continuing to permit the export of dual-use materials that could be used, and we think in some cases are being used, to help the growth of Iran’s nuclear industry,” Burns said.
“It is the view of my government that it would be appropriate now for those individual governments to stop that practice and no longer permit it.”
Well, Russia cannot have it both ways, now can they?
Negotiations are going NOWHERE but the United States puts on a good “SHOW.”
Stay tuned…….
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