Pledging unity, the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Russia and China met for over two hours in New York this afternoon on Iran. But with China declining to send its political director to the meeting, sending its representative to the United Nations instead, there's no consensus yet on further measures to pressure Iran to accept a nuclear deal."Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the six nations want to meet again with Iran to discuss their October proposal that Tehran exchange uranium for nuclear fuel,". "Ryabkov said Russia thinks that there is 'still time for meaningful political engagement and efforts to find a solution.'"
In a statement following the meeting, the P5+1 said Iran had failed to follow up on a key understanding reached at a meeting in Geneva October 1, and that Iran's cooperation with the IAEA has been inadequate. The group said it was committed to a negotiated solution. And it warned that consideration of further appropriate measures has begun.
STATEMENT BY THE CHAIR REFLECTING THE SENSE OF THE E3+3 Meeting at Political Directors level - New York, 16 January 2010
Meeting to take stock and see way ahead.
The ministers of the UK, China, France, Germany, Russia, the US and the EU HR met in New York on 23 September and agreed that "the meeting on 1 October will provide an opportunity to seek a comprehensive long term and appropriate solution to the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiation." They added that "we expect a serious response from Iran and will decide in the context of our dual track approach, as a result
of the meeting, on our next steps."
The political directors of these countries met in Brussels on 20 November to take stock of developments since the 1 October meeting in Geneva. They expressed disappointment at the lack of follow-up to the three understandings reached at the Geneva meeting between HR Solana and Dr Jalili. They said they would meet again shortly after that meeting to complete their assessment of the situation and decide on next steps in the context of our dual track approach.
We met today in New York for this purpose.
Our conclusion is that
- Iran has failed to follow up on the key understanding of Geneva meeting on 1 October in particular by refusing to have a further meeting to discuss nuclear issues.
- In addition, we are concerned by
• the fact that Iran has been secretly building the enrichment facility near Qom, with no credible civilian purpose, without notifying it to the IAEA in due time in accordance with its safeguards obligations and in violation of UNSCR.
• Iran's insufficient cooperation with IAEA and its response to the 27 November IAEA Board of Governors resolution.
• Iran's failure to take up the IAEA proposed agreement for the provision of nuclear fuel for its Tehran Research Reactor.
As a result we concluded that Iran's response was inadequate and that they had failed to seize the opportunity that our ministers set out in September. We are united and remain committed to our dual track approach. That implies that we continue to seek a negotiated solution. Consideration of the appropriate further measures has begun.
No comments:
Post a Comment