Clinton Urges 'Concrete Steps' from Iran before Moscow Talks
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Iran Thursday to be ready to take "concrete steps" on its disputed nuclear program ahead of a Moscow meeting between Tehran and world powers.
Iran and the so-called P5+1 group -- the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany -- meet on June 18-19 in the Russian capital to discuss Iran's nuclear program which the West fears aims to build the bomb.
"We want Iran to come to that meeting to begin the serious work necessary to take place in order to reach a diplomatic solution," Clinton told a news conference in Istanbul, where she had attended a counterterrorism meeting.
"We want them to come prepared to take concrete steps, particularly in the area of 20 percent enrichment," she said, referring to the higher purity levels which, Western powers charge, point to a military purpose.
"And we have said this is a unified position of the international community and those of us in this negotiation, which includes Russia and China, that in response to their action, we are prepared to take actions on our own," the U.S. secretary of state said.
Clinton's comments came on the same day Iran underlined its message that Western powers must recognize Tehran's "right" to peaceful uranium enrichment if upcoming talks in Moscow are to bring progress.
Despite Tehran's repeated denials, Western powers suspect the uranium is being enriched to give Iran a "break-out" capability to make atomic weapons.
All P5+1 group members except Germany are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, which has since 2006 issued a slew of resolutions demanding that Iran halt all enrichment.
They have imposed a raft of U.N. sanctions, and the United States and European Union have added their own harsh measures against Iran's economy.
Clinton said that "the fact that the international community was so united made it difficult for Iran to escape the realization that they would either have to come to the table to negotiate or remain very isolated with economic consequences that would be detrimental to their country."
Two rounds of negotiations this year, in Istanbul and Baghdad, have left the talks with no breakthrough. The next round in Moscow is seen as crucial in determining whether there are grounds for a diplomatic solution.
Source: Agence France Presse
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