12 September 2006
Rice Cautious About Iranian Nuclear Proposal
Iran reportedly offers temporary suspension of its nuclear program
Washington – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice remains cautious about a reported proposal from Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities for two months in an effort to return to negotiations with the international community over its nuclear program, but said that if Iran is prepared to suspend its activities, the international community is prepared to engage in discussions.
“I don't think there is an offer … at this point,” Rice told reporters en route to Halifax, Nova Scotia, September 11. “And the point is there would have to be a suspension. If there is a suspension, then we can have discussions, but there has to be a suspension. And as far as I know, the Iranians have not yet said that they would suspend prior to negotiations, which is what the issue has been.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency and the U.N. Security Council repeatedly have called on Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities immediately and return to negotiations on its nuclear program.
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, reportedly floated the idea of a temporary suspension to European Union negotiator Javier Solana during September 9-10 meetings in Vienna, Austria. The two are meeting to discuss Iran’s response to a package of incentives from China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States designed to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear program. (See related article.)
The package of incentives includes technological and economic assistance in exchange for Iran’s cooperation, but promises an escalating set of sanctions if Iran refuses to comply with the central demand that it suspend its nuclear program.
Rice said she had spoken with Solana following his meetings with Larijani but had not heard any concrete Iranian offer on suspension. “[T]he question is: Are they prepared to suspend verifiably so that negotiations can begin? That's the issue,” she said.
In the absence of an Iranian suspension, Rice said, the U.N. Security Council would move ahead with a series of sanctions “that are commensurate with Iranian behavior.”
“The international community can bring a lot of isolation on Iran, both formally and informally, both through the Security Council and through like-minded states taking action even if the Security Council does not,” she said. “[T]he time is coming very soon when we're going to have to vote on a Security Council resolution.”
Rice told reporters at a September 12 press conference in Stellarton, Canada, that the foreign ministers from the six countries that offered Iran the package of incentives would meet in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in the coming days “to examine where we are and how we move forward.” She said the five permanent members of the Security Council already have put much work into developing a resolution that would impose sanctions on Iran for its continued defiance but that more work must be done.
“I continue to hope that the Iranians are going to take the opportunity put before them, which is to suspend and to begin negotiations,” she said. “It's only in that way that we can explore whether there really is an answer to this problem through negotiation.”
Iran repeatedly has claimed that its nuclear program is strictly for peaceful civil energy purposes, but many in the international community are concerned that Iran is developing technology that easily could be diverted to producing nuclear weapons. The package of incentives offered to Iran includes international assistance in developing a peaceful civil nuclear program free of any proliferation risk.
For more information on U.S. policy, see Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
