Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

US willing to act outside UNSC over Iran
[ Thursday, April 06, 2006 10:41:39 pmIANS ]


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WASHINGTON: The US is willing to act outside the UN Security Council if it fails to take adequate steps to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, John Bolton, American ambassador to the UN, said on Thursday.

"It would be simply prudent planning to be looking at other options," Bolton told reporters here.

He cited resistance from Russia and China at the Security Council as a reason to consider other possibilities for resolving the dispute over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programme.

The Security Council last month issued an appeal to Iran to comply with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolutions that require Tehran to come clean on its nuclear activities, but only after three weeks of difficult negotiations.

Bolton said if Iran did not comply with the statement by the end of this month - the deadline set by the Security Council - Washington will seek a legally binding resolution requiring Tehran to comply.

If Iran does not meet that demand, then the US will pursue a second resolution imposing international sanctions "of some kind" against the Islamic republic, Bolton said.

But he said that if the Security Council was unwilling to confront Iran over the issue, the US could tighten its own set of economic sanctions, and other countries could move to financially isolate Tehran.

Britain, France and Germany, the most influential countries in the European Union, have generally supported the US effort to halt Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Iran says its nuclear activities are purely for producing energy, but the US believes the programme is being used to build a bomb.

US President George W. Bush has not ruled out the use of military force to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear arms, but pledged to resolve the dispute diplomatically.



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1480680.cms.