US Says Iran Not Really Responsive on Nuclear Issue
By David Gollust, VOA, State Department
The U.S. State Department said Thursday an Iranian proposal for talks with world
powers was not really responsive on the key issue of Iran's nuclear ambitions.
However, officials say the United States, the other permanent U.N. Security
Council member countries and Germany - the P5+1 grouping - are likely to seek
follow-on talks with Tehran.
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The State Department says the proposal handed to
diplomats in Tehran Wednesday repeated Iran's publicly-stated assertion that it
considers the nuclear issue closed.
But officials here are signaling that the P5+1 intend none-the-less to take Iran
up on its offer of talks with the major powers, and test its readiness to
address issues of concern including its nuclear program.
At a news briefing, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley
said the Iranian document is not really responsive to concern about Tehran's
nuclear intentions, but said this does not foreclose the possibility of a
renewed big-power dialogue with Tehran.
"We are willing to engage Iran in direct diplomacy based on mutual respect and
mutual interests and we seek a willing partner," he said. "But I think that as
we consult with our P5+1 colleagues, we'll be looking to see how ready Iran is
to actually engage, and we will be testing that willingness to engage in the
next few weeks."
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The Development and Proliferation of Today eight countries
are possessing nuclear weapons. The five nuclear weapons states
United States, Russia (former Soviet Union), United Kingdom, France
and China, are the only countries allowed to have nuclear weapons
according to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) from 1970. All
members of the United Nations except Israel, India and Pakistan have
signed the NPT. |
Senior diplomats of the six-power grouping held a
video conference call shortly after receipt of the Iranian proposal Wednesday,
and Crowley said there would be another such discussion Friday that a senior
official here said would be aimed at crafting a common position for a response
to Tehran.
The senior official said that while there is nothing really new in the Iranian
document, the P5+1 members now at least have a reply in hand to an offer of
dialogue conveyed to Tehran last April.
The major powers offered Iran a revised package of economic and political
incentives to halt a uranium enrichment program seen as weapons-related, and
return to talks with major powers on its nuclear intentions.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said earlier this week Iran rejects any
halt to the enrichment effort which it says is part of a peaceful nuclear
program, but is ready for talks on a wide-range of world issues including
nuclear proliferation.
P5+1 foreign ministers are expected to discuss Iran on the sidelines of the U.N.
General Assembly in New York the third week of this month.
The Obama administration has indicated it will press for tougher international
sanctions against Iran if it does not accept good-faith negotiations on the
nuclear issue by the end of September.
Thursday in Vienna, the U.S. envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency
Glyn Davies said Iran is either very near to having, or is already in possession
of, enough low-enriched uranium to produce a nuclear weapon, if it made the
decision to further enrich it to weapons-grade.
... Payvand News - 09/11/09 ... --
