U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hosted her counterparts from Russia, China, France, Great Britain, Germany, and the European Union for several hours of talks late on May 8 in New York.
Diplomats say the meeting failed to overcome objections from Russia and China to a proposed UN Security Council draft resolution that would authorize possible sanctions or military action against Iran if Tehran does not comply with demands to halt uranium enrichment.
After the talks, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing urged Iran to cooperate with the UN's nuclear watchdog and said the dispute should be defused through negotiations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged that conditions be created that would enable further talks.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, subsequently praised Russia and China for their stance, which he described as realistic.
The meeting was held after the United States confirmed receiving a letter from Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to President George W. Bush. Rice said the letter offers no concrete proposals to address international concerns over Iran's nuclear program.
(Reuters, AFP, AP)
IAEA Final Resolution
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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.