Rice for talks with Iran if enrichment stops temporarily
Washington, 20 June (IranVNC)—Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that she is willing to talk to Iran’s Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki if the country temporarily suspends its enrichment activities, which the West suspects Iran is using to develop a nuclear arsenal.
By: IranVNC
Published: Friday, June 20, 2008
21:45GMT—5:45PM/EST
RICE – IRAN – SANCTIONS – TALKS
Washington, 20 June (IranVNC)—Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that she is willing to talk to Iran’s Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki if the country temporarily suspends its enrichment activities, which the West suspects Iran is using to develop a nuclear arsenal.
“Suspend that enrichment and reprocessing – even for a period of time – and I’ve said that I’ll meet my counterpart anyplace, anywhere, anytime to talk about anything,” Rice said at the Council of Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellows Fortieth Anniversary Conference in Washington on Thursday.
But Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA], Ali-Asghar Soltanieh, yesterday reiterated his government’s position that, while cooperating with the UN nuclear watchdog, Iran would press on with its enrichment work.
“While fully cooperating with the IAEA, Iran will continue with nuclear enrichment for peaceful purposes because it completely concords with the IAEA Safeguards,” the official news agency IRNA quoted Soltanieh as saying on Thursday.
Rice echoed her British counterpart David Miliband's remarks with reference to Iran on Thursday that the EU did not hold a grudge against the Islamic Republic.
“We [the US] have permanent friends, but we don’t have permanent enemies,” Rice said.
Rice told the conference further that the Iranian government was subjecting itself to the UN’s Chapter Seven resolution by refusing to comply with international demands that it freeze its uranium enrichment program. The resolution, which addresses “action with respect to threats to the peace, breaches of the peace, and acts of aggression,” includes strong economic measures that limit financial dealings with a member nation.
Rice, who described Iran’s economic performance as “frankly woeful” and a “vulnerability” that the UN Security Council has chosen to exploit, said: “It’s the world that is putting them [Iran] into Chapter Seven, which is a very bad place to be,” she added.
Source: Council on Foreign Relations website
© IranVNC 2008. All rights reserved.