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Key Foreign Ministers to Discuss Iran Nuclear Standoff
Six key nations plan to send representatives to a meeting Monday in London to discuss what actions should be taken regarding Iran’s controversial nuclear activities, the New York Times reported (see GSN, Jan. 24). The United States and the European Union are considering a new approach in pushing for Security Council action, Kyodo News reported today. “It’s a three-step approach,” said one expert. “First urge Iran to suspend enrichment activities and come back to talks with the EU, second give more [inspection] authority to the IAEA,” the expert said. “If Iran doesn’t comply, they will go to sanctions.” The agency’s safeguard inspections are focused on accounting for enriched uranium and other fissile material rather than on unearthing clandestine atomic weapons programs. The United States wants to bolster that authority before pushing for sanctions, one Bush administration official told Kyodo. “It is certainly not our intention to ask the Security Council immediately … to impose sanctions on Iran,” the official said. “At first what the Security Council should do is try to use its authority and credibility to call upon the Iranians to do the very same thing that the IAEA Board of Governors has almost unanimously called upon Iran to do in the past,” the official said (Kyodo/Yahoo!News, Jan. 25). Meanwhile, several U.S. lawmakers have expressed support for tough action against Iran at the Security Council and for keeping open the option of military action, the Associated Press reported today. “It’s important to give diplomacy a try, but I don’t believe we should take any option — including military force — off the table,” said Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas). “If you eliminate the threat of military action, the possibility of it, then there’s no way to secure compliance,” said Representative Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.). Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said military force should remain an option, but that the United States and the European Union must focus on gaining Chinese and Russian support for “a tough posture” at the Security Council that includes sanctions. “We have to be judicious in how we apply sanctions — there may be some sanctions that may not make a difference,” Obama added. Some lawmakers suggested that regime change was needed in Iran. “Ultimately, there must be change in the country’s leadership,” said Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). “The current Iranian government is a corrupt and dangerous regime that’s out of step with its citizens” (Liz Sidoti, Associated Press I/Yahoo!News, Jan. 25). Iran today gave tentative support for Moscow’s offer to enrich uranium on Iran’s behalf in Russian territory, Agence France-Presse reported. “We positively evaluate this offer,” said top Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani, who was in Moscow for talks with Russian officials. “This plan can be perfected” during further negotiations next month, he added. “Russia’s idea is good, but … favorable conditions concerning the time and place” of enrichment still to be worked out, he said. Larijani reiterated Iran’s willingness to resume nuclear negotiations with the European Union, AFP reported (Agence France-Presse I/TurkishPress.com, Jan. 25). Larijani and Russia’s national security chief announced yesterday that the U.N. nuclear watchdog must find a diplomatic solution to the crisis, AP reported. “Both sides expressed their desire to solve the issue in a diplomatic way within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Russia’s Security Council announced after the meeting between Igor Ivanov and Larijani (Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press II/Yahoo!News, Jan. 25). U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, traveling in China, said today that Beijing and Washington had no major differences on the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program, Reuters reported. Zoellick said Chinese officials were concerned about “tactics and timing” but that the two nations agreed on “core principals” (Reuters, Jan. 25). Zoellick said he warned Chinese officials yesterday that nuclear weapons development in the Middle East could affect their energy security, AP reported. “In their own interests for energy security, they need to steer this in another direction,” he said (Associated Press III/Yahoo!News, Jan. 25). Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar today threatened to put Israel in “an eternal coma,” AFP reported. “Israel does not have the courage to attack Iran, and if it commits such a big mistake, the defenders of Islamic Iran will put Israel in an eternal coma like (Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon,” Najjar said (Agence France-Presse II/Middle East Online, Jan. 25).
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