Rice says U.S. will not accept Iran’s “half-answers”
Washington, 7 August (IranVNC)—Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that Iran has “a way out” of its longstanding nuclear dispute, but warned that major powers would not accept “half-answers” on international demands to halt its sensitive uranium enrichment work.
By: IranVNC
Published: Thursday, August 07, 2008
12:00GMT—8:00AM/EST
U.S. – IRAN – SANCTIONS – RUSSIA
Washington, 7 August (IranVNC)—Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that Iran has “a way out” of its longstanding nuclear dispute, but warned that major powers would not accept “half-answers” on international demands to halt its sensitive uranium enrichment work.
Increasing isolation is costing Iran, Rice told the magazine Politico, adding: “I think that’s one reason that you’re seeing them trying to give half-answers rather than simply saying no. But the fact is, we won’t accept half-answers, either.”
Rice reiterated that “Iran has a way out if they ever wish, but we will seriously pursue sanctions if they don’t.”
The U.S. and Britain announced yesterday that major powers will consider further United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iran after it failed to provide a positive response to an incentives package that the P5+1 had offered that country in return for suspension of uranium enrichment.
Iran insists that its nuclear program is aimed solely at generating electricity for a growing population.
When asked if the U.S. will get tougher with Iran, Rice said Washington has “been pretty tough with them already”, adding: “They [Iran] should have felt like time is running out quite a long time ago.”
Washington has been a main supporter of the three United Nations Security Council sanctions imposed against Iran since 2006.
Rice told Politico that there was consensus among the six major powers – the U.S., UK, France, Germany, China and Russia – on what the next step entails.
“They [P5+1] agreed that the Iranian answer is not adequate, that it is not a really serious answer,” Rice said, explaining that the next step would be to move toward another Security Council resolution.
However, Russia’s UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, played down talks of more sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Moscow has in the past been hesitant to impose UN sanctions on Iran.
According to AFP, Churkin said yesterday that “to the best of my knowledge, there has been no firm agreement or understanding or concerted work in this regard [the sanctions track].”
He added: “The main thing to remember is the negotiating track is open.”
Rice did not rule out the diplomatic option, saying the Bush administration still believes that diplomacy “can work and that there is time for it to work.” She explained that “elites” in Iran don’t want to see further isolation because of their business interests.
“I think there is a lot of ferment in Iran right now,” she said, adding: “After all, inflation is running wild in Iran.”
According to Iran’s Etemad Newspaper, Iran’s Central Bank announced yesterday that the country’s official inflation rate for the month of Tir [21 June 2008 – 21 July 2008] was 21.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s [IAEA] deputy director, Olli Heinonen, arrived in Tehran today for a new round of talks on Iran’s cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Reuters reports diplomats in Vienna as saying that the talks would focus on clarifying outstanding questions the IAEA has about Iran’s nuclear program. But Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, said talks would focus on “the trend of cooperation” between the two parties.
In his May 2008 report, IAEA chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, said questions remained regarding Iran’s alleged weaponization studies. Iran dismissed the allegations as “baseless”.
Sources: Politico magazine, Agence France-Presse, IRNA in Persian, Reuters, Etemad Newspaper
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