Source: dpa - International News Service in English
Jan 17, 2008 07:45 EST
Via: WireDispatch
Vienna (dpa) - The dispute over Iran's controversial nuclear programme remains on top of the global political agenda in 2008, with the international community determined to prevent a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.Steinmeier was briefed in an hour-long meeting with Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),on the results of ElBaradei's most recent trip to Tehran ahead of the meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany to discuss Iran in the German capital next Tuesday.
Iran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons technology, Germany's foreign minister said on Thursday in the run-up to a meeting by the six world powers in Berlin next week.
"The international community cannot and will not allow that nuclear weapons technology will be developed in this region," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said ahead of a meeting with the United Nations nuclear watchdog in Vienna.
"In this connection it is important how the director of the IAEA, who had just returned from a visit to Teheran, assesses the situation, especially after the talks in Tehran where he also met with the religious leader," Steinmeier told journalists.
The world powers wanted to know how ElBaradei assessed the options for a solution, the German foreign minister said.
ElBaradei met with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran's supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week.
...Germany invited the foreign ministers of the UN Security Council member states to talks in Berlin on a third UN sanctions resolution to pressure Iran on its nuclear programme aimed at showing unity against Iran.
"We will meet in Berlin in a few days with the permanent members of the Security Council and discuss how the unity displayed by the international community can be shown in the future as well," Steinmeier said...
...China and Russia are reluctant to join into a new round of sanctions. China on Thursday urged both Iran and the West to display more flexibility - for Iran to adhere to relevant Security Council resolutions and for the West to increase the diplomatic push to overcome the deadlock.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeid Jalili travelled to China on Thursday to gain Chinese support against further sanctions.
"Certain countries have used various pretexts and unfounded accusations to transfer the Iranian nuclear dossier to the Security Council under false pretences and unfounded accusations.
But today the inconsistency of their accusations has become clear from their own reports," Jalili was quoted as saying by Iranian media upon arrival in Beijing...
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Source: dpa - International News Service in English
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