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Nations Approach Consensus on Iran, Burns Says
U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said yesterday that the United States, Russia and other countries are moving toward consensus on dealing with Iran’s nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 21). Burns said he conducted “excellent discussions” Friday in London with officials from China, Russia, India and the European nations negotiating directly with Tehran. “I was encouraged by those discussions on Friday because I think that there is a wider circle of countries now working all together to send one message to Iran,” Burns said. Delegates at the London meeting expressed support for the plan to allow Iran to maintain a peaceful nuclear program as long as uranium enrichment is done in Russia (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Nov. 21). Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Iran could be referred to the U.N. Security Council if its nuclear program threatens the nonproliferation regime, RIA Novosti reported. Lavrov said that as long as Iran refrains from conducting uranium enrichment, Tehran’s nuclear program should be left under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The foreign minister said Iran has given agency inspectors access to its nuclear facilities, as mandated by international agreements (RIA Novosti, Nov. 21). U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack yesterday would not confirm that the United States and its allies were delaying an attempt to bring Iran before the Security Council, Agence France-Presse reported. McCormack said the United States was working for a resumption of Iran’s negotiations with France, Germany and the United Kingdom. “We're trying to encourage Iran to get back to the negotiating table,” he said. “We're trying to work with the international community to give the Iranians every opportunity to avail themselves of the negotiating mechanism that is out there and to avail themselves of some potentially very interesting offers.” McCormack said that the United States believes that Iran should be referred to the Security Council, but added, “We will reserve the right to seek that action at the time of our choosing” (Agence France-Presse II/IranMania.com, Nov. 21).
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