Rice urges Iran to give “serious answer” on nuclear program
Washington, 21 July (IranVNC)—Iran could face more sanctions if it does not give a “serious answer” to international demands that it suspend nuclear enrichment, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
By: IranVNC
Published: Monday, July 21, 2008
14:00GMT—10:00AM/EST
US – IRAN – NUCLEAR
Washington, 21 July (IranVNC)—Iran could face more sanctions if it does not give a “serious answer” to international demands that it suspend nuclear enrichment, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
“We are in the strongest possible position to demonstrate that if Iran does not act then it is time to go back to that [sanctions] track,” Reuters quoted Rice as saying in Ireland.
Rice was speaking before traveling to the United Arab Emirates to meet Under Secretary of State William Burns, who represented Washington at a weekend meeting on Iran’s nuclear program.
“The main thing is we will have to start considering what we do in New York,” Rice said, referring to the United Nations Security Council, which has imposed three rounds of sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, who led the talks with Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, said after the five-hour-long meeting on 19 July that Iran did not give a yes or no answer to an offer of political and economic incentives aimed at coaxing Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment work.
But Tehran, which has said its nuclear program is aimed solely at generating civilian nuclear power, today said that the suspension of enrichment had not been discussed.
“No word was mentioned about suspension,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted Jalili as telling reporters on his return to Tehran. “What happened in Geneva were some discussions about the two sides’ approaches to the nuclear talks and their timing.”
Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have hailed the talks as “positive”. Deputy Foreign Minister Alireza Sheikh Attar today said Iran would respond in kind to any “positive” US move.
But Rice gave a more negative evaluation of the meeting, saying that Jalili had engaged in “small talk” during the meeting, and called on Tehran to give “a serious answer”.
“It was also a very strong message to the Iranians that they can’t go and stall and make small talk and talk about culture and that they have to make a decision,” she said.
During her stop-over in Abu Dhabi en-route to Asia, Rice will also meet the foreign ministers of the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, Iraq, Egypt and Jordan, to discuss issues including Iran.
Sources: IRNA, ISNA, Reuters, State Department website
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