| Kathleen 2006-05-10, 11:11 am |
| U.S. to Wait `Couple of Weeks' for Iran Resolution (Update2)
May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today
the U.S. will wait a ``couple of weeks'' to seek a United Nations
Security Council resolution on Iran's nuclear program.
``We agreed that we will continue to seek a Security Council
resolution, but that we would wait for a couple of weeks while the
Europeans design an offer to the Iranians that would make clear that
they have a choice that would allow them to have a civil nuclear
program -- if that is indeed what they want,'' Rice said in an
interview on ABC's ``Good Morning America.''
The Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany will meet in
London May 19 to consider new incentives for Iran to renounce its
atomic program, Agence France-Presse reported, citing unidentified
diplomats. The permanent five are the U.S., U.K., France, Russia and
China.
Rice was participating in Security Council talks in New York on a
resolution to compel Iran to stop enriching uranium for use as a
nuclear fuel. The U.S. was backing an attempt by the U.K. and France to
get a vote on such a resolution this week. The Russian and Chinese
governments have resisted using the threat of sanctions against Iran.
President George W. Bush said yesterday that the U.S. and other UN
members are still in an ``early stage'' of diplomatic efforts to
prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb.
The U.K., France and Germany, the so-called EU-3 who have led the
European Union's discussions with Iran on the nuclear dispute, are
drawing up incentives to be discussed with Russia, China and the U.S.,
as well as sanctions that could follow if a deal is not reached, AFP
said.
The EU-3 will draw up a package of incentives over the next 10 days,
then seek endorsement of the proposals by the permanent five and
Germany before presenting them to Iran, AFP said, citing an
unidentified Western diplomat.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Dodge in Washington at cdodge@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: May 10, 2006 10:04 EDT
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