 BERLIN - The United States faced growing opposition on Thursday to its bid to persuade other powers to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, with China urging dialogue and France signalling room for manoeuvre.
As top diplomats from six major powers met in Berlin to consider what steps to take after Iran ignored a UN Security Council deadline to stop sensitive nuclear work, China and France signalled they were focusing on diplomacy. “China advocates this issue be resolved through negotiation and dialogue in a peaceful way and this position remains unchanged,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang.
| Since negotiation and dialogue have been working so well ... |
France suggested world powers may be flexible over an earlier demand that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment work before starting talks.
| And no one knows flexibility better than the French ... |
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said the timing of any suspension was crucial and that it could be discussed. “The question is to know at what point this suspension takes place in relation to the negotiations,” he told reporters. “It’s a major question .. which will perhaps emerge as important in the weeks ahead.”
The comments highlighted the underlying differences as diplomats from Germany and the five permanent Security Council members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - met in the German capital.
China and Russia are reluctant to impose sanctions and question whether Tehran really poses a nuclear threat to the world as the United States and some of the EU believe. Washington hopes to persuade Russia and China to raise the pressure on the Islamic Republic by preparing to ask the UN Security Council to consider sanctions, diplomats from several countries to participate in the talks told Reuters.
Some, however, expressed doubt that Washington would succeed given opposition in European capitals, Moscow and Beijing. “There is no way the US is going to walk away with an agreement to impose sanctions on Iran,” said an EU diplomat from a country participating in the talks.
| I think we pretty much know that. We have to do the dance and we have to get past the midterm election. Bush is then going to need to look at the intel to see how close the Persians are to the bomb and make some decisions. |
Although Britain, France and Germany had led diplomatic efforts on behalf of the European Union, all 25 members’ views had to be taken into account at this stage, he said. “There is really no appetite for sanctions in the broader EU,” said the diplomat. “Not everybody is convinced that sanctions would even work,” noting the experience with Iraq.
| And who would know about how sanctions get undermined better than the French? Well, okay the Russians. |
Diplomats said Russia and China would probably want to know the outcome of a planned meeting between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and IranÂ’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani before discussing sanctions. EU diplomats said the aim was to find out if there was a chance Iran might halt enrichment work and begin negotiations on an offer of economic and political incentives the six powers made to Iran in June.
| Yeah, Iran sure hasn't sent any signals about such a chance so far ... |
One EU diplomat said the EU was hearing that Iran might be ready to suspend enrichment for a time, possibly a year or two, after any talks began. That could be acceptable to many EU countries, though probably not Britain. |