Permanent Five, Germany fail to reach consensus on Iran nuclear issue
21/3/2006 15:39
Senior officials from five permanent members of the UN Security Council
and Germany failed to reach consensus yesterday on the long-term strategy on
Iran nuclear issue.
After almost four and a half hours of talks which were
held at British mission, the six countries did not achieve any agreement on the
issue, diplomats who participated in the consultation told Xinhua.
Officials
who attended the meeting include US Under Secretary of State for Political
Affairs Nicholas Burns, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak, Chinese
Foreign Ministry Director of Arms Control Zhang Yan, and Foreign Ministry
Political Director John Sawers of Britain, Stanislas de la Boulaye of France and
Michael Schaefer of Germany.
The atmosphere of the meeting was constructive,
and the six parties expressed their own standpoints on the issue, said the
diplomat who asked to remain anonymous.
It was said that Russia declared at
the meeting that all parties concerned should stick to the principle achieved
during the talks in London in January when dealing with the Iran nuclear
issue.
The diplomat also added that there is so far no any new proposal
mentioned at the meeting.
According to information arriving in United Nations
from Vienna, Britain planed to put forward new proposal on the Iran issue at the
meeting.
Two diplomats told The Associated Press in Vienna, Austria, that
Britain plans to call for new talks with Iran about its suspect nuclear program
at the meeting, AP reported Monday.
After the meeting, Burns told reporters
that "we had a good meeting today."
He observed that all parties agreed that
"we should stay united and stay together to send a strong message to the
Iranians, and to convince them to roll back their nuclear program, suspend all
nuclear activities and return to formal negotiations."
Burns also noted that
they made some progress in looking at the text of the presidential statement
before the UN Security Council. However, he refused to clarify what kind of
progress it is.
Meanwhile, Russia ambassador Andrey Denisov said "the work is
still going on."
The Security Council will continue to hold consultation
Tuesday afternoon on the draft statement proposed by France and Britain. Since
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sent its assessment report on
Iran's disputed nuclear program to the Council on March 8, the five permanent
members, which hold the veto power, have held almost two weeks of continuous
talks, and remain divided on the language of the draft statement.
In the
draft statement, Britain and France suggested a 14-day deadline for Iran to
comply with IAEA's demands to resume suspension of its uranium enrichment
activities. However, Russia only wants a statement stressing the central role
the IAEA has on the Iran issue.
Xinhua
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