Obama warns Iran of consequences over nuclear standoff
Friday, 20 November 2009
SEOUL, Nov 19 (Reuters): US President Barack Obama issued a strong warning to Iran on Thursday of consequences of its failure to respond to the offer of a nuclear deal and could have a package of steps to take "within weeks."
But Iran's foreign minister rejected talk of further sanctions, saying the West had learnt from "failed experiences" of the past.
Iran on Wednesday rejected a deal to send enriched uranium abroad for further processing, defying Washington and its allies which had called on Tehran to accept a deal which aimed to delay Iran's potential ability to make bombs by at least a year by divesting the country of most of its enriched uranium.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had said Iran should send some 75 percent of its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be turned into fuel for a Tehran medical research reactor.
"Iran has taken weeks now and has not shown its willingness to say yes to this proposal ... and so as a consequence we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences," Obama said at a joint news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak during a visit to Seoul.
He said Iran would not be given an unlimited amount of time, likening the Iranian nuclear issue to the years of stop-and-start negotiations with North Korea about its nuclear ambitions.
"We weren't going to duplicate what has happened with North Korea, in which talks just continue forever without any actual resolution to the issue," said Obama, who has advocated a policy of increased engagement, rather than confrontation, on thorny international issues.
In Manila, visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki dismissed the possibility of further sanctions.
"Sanction was the literature of the 60s and 70s," he said at a news conference. "I think they are wise enough not to repeat failed experiences," he said, speaking through an interpreter. "Of course it's totally up to them."
Mottaki said Tehran was willing to discuss the plutonium deal but only if the swap of enriched uranium for nuclear fuel took place within Iran.
"Iran raises its readiness in order to have further talks within the framework which is presented," he said.
Meanwhile: Western powers are gearing up for talks on a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program but will not target Iran's energy sector to ensure Russia's and China's support.
The decision to begin exploring the possibilities for new punitive measures against Tehran reflects the growing impatience in the United States, Britain, France and Germany, the four Western powers that have joined forces with Russia and China to persuade Iran to freeze parts of its nuclear program.
"We have waited long enough for Iran," a European diplomat said on condition of anonymity. "We and our friends in the (six powers) agree it is time to consider next steps at the U.N."
But the scaling back of the West's expectations for new U.N. steps against Iran for defying Security Council demands to stop enriching uranium shows that the Europeans and Americans have accepted that Moscow and Beijing, with their close trade ties to Tehran, will not let Iran's economy be crippled.
But Iran's foreign minister rejected talk of further sanctions, saying the West had learnt from "failed experiences" of the past.
Iran on Wednesday rejected a deal to send enriched uranium abroad for further processing, defying Washington and its allies which had called on Tehran to accept a deal which aimed to delay Iran's potential ability to make bombs by at least a year by divesting the country of most of its enriched uranium.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had said Iran should send some 75 percent of its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be turned into fuel for a Tehran medical research reactor.
"Iran has taken weeks now and has not shown its willingness to say yes to this proposal ... and so as a consequence we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences," Obama said at a joint news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak during a visit to Seoul.
He said Iran would not be given an unlimited amount of time, likening the Iranian nuclear issue to the years of stop-and-start negotiations with North Korea about its nuclear ambitions.
"We weren't going to duplicate what has happened with North Korea, in which talks just continue forever without any actual resolution to the issue," said Obama, who has advocated a policy of increased engagement, rather than confrontation, on thorny international issues.
In Manila, visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki dismissed the possibility of further sanctions.
"Sanction was the literature of the 60s and 70s," he said at a news conference. "I think they are wise enough not to repeat failed experiences," he said, speaking through an interpreter. "Of course it's totally up to them."
Mottaki said Tehran was willing to discuss the plutonium deal but only if the swap of enriched uranium for nuclear fuel took place within Iran.
"Iran raises its readiness in order to have further talks within the framework which is presented," he said.
Meanwhile: Western powers are gearing up for talks on a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program but will not target Iran's energy sector to ensure Russia's and China's support.
The decision to begin exploring the possibilities for new punitive measures against Tehran reflects the growing impatience in the United States, Britain, France and Germany, the four Western powers that have joined forces with Russia and China to persuade Iran to freeze parts of its nuclear program.
"We have waited long enough for Iran," a European diplomat said on condition of anonymity. "We and our friends in the (six powers) agree it is time to consider next steps at the U.N."
But the scaling back of the West's expectations for new U.N. steps against Iran for defying Security Council demands to stop enriching uranium shows that the Europeans and Americans have accepted that Moscow and Beijing, with their close trade ties to Tehran, will not let Iran's economy be crippled.