Britain, Germany Agree Iran Crisis Must Be Solved Diplomatically
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad visited Iran's Natanz nuclear facility on 16 February (Fars)
Blair, speaking at a joint news conference after talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel said diplomacy must go hand-in-hand with a firm stance toward Iran.
"We had a discussion about how we deal with this [Iranian nuclear] issue and deal with it strongly, but through the diplomatic channels that are available to us."
Britain, Germany and France had led talks with Iran over its nuclear program on behalf of the European Union, but the negotiations collapsed after Iran announced it would resume suspended nuclear activities.
Blair and Merkel also discussed energy supplies for EU countries, and the Hamas militant group's victory in Palestinian elections in January.
Today's visit was Blair's first to Germany since Merkel became chancellor in November 2005.
(compiled from agency reports, CNN)
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On 4 February, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency approved in a 27-3 vote a resolution to report the matter of Iran's nuclear program to the United Nations Security Council. The key section of the resolution is Section 1, which states that the Board of Governors:
Underlines that outstanding questions can best be resolved and confidence built in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's program by Iran responding positively to the calls for confidence-building measures which the Board has made on Iran, and in this context deems it necessary for Iran to:
- reestablish full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related and processing activities, including research and development, to be verified by the Agency;
- reconsider the construction of a research reactor moderated by heavy water;
- ratify promptly and implement in full Additional Protocol;
- pending ratification, continue to act in accordance with the provisions of the Additional Protocol with Iran signed on 18 December 2003;
- implement the transparency measures, as requested by the Director General, which extend beyond the former requirements of the Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol, and include such access to individuals, documentation relating to procurement, dual use equipment, certain military-owned workshops and research and development as the Agency may request in support of its ongoing investigations.
COMPLETE TEXT: To read the final resolution, with late-hour changes highlighted, click here.
THE COMPLETE PICTURE: RFE/RL's complete coverage of controversy surrounding Iran's nuclear program.
An annotated timeline of Iran's nuclear program.