Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, right, presents a package of proposals on the nuclear issue to the French, Russian and Swiss ambassadors in Terhan on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009. (AP Photo)Iran Nuclear Proposal Rejected As Russia Dismisses Sanctions
President Obama had hoped to pressure Iran by building international consensus on tougher sanctions.
By David Montero | Correspondent 09.11.09
As the United States rejected a new proposal for talks presented by Iran this week, Russia has broken ranks sharply with Washington, warning that it will not support the US call for tougher sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Russia’s statement comes as a setback for President Barack Obama, who had hoped to build an international consensus about sanctions before the United Nations General Assembly meeting in two weeks.
Russia’s stance, and its veto power as a member of the United Nations Security Council, makes such a consensus look unlikely.
Iran on Wednesday handed over a much-awaited proposal for new talks to the so-called P5+1 group – the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany.
The contents have not been made public, but the independent investigative news outlet, ProPublica, obtained and posted a copy of the document, saying, “[T]he new proposal is silent on Iran’s own nuclear program…[it] reiterated many of its previous ideas for talks while scaling back specific requests made in previous proposals.
The Washington Post summarized the gist of the proposal:
Iran is not prepared to discuss halting its uranium enrichment program in response to Western demands but is proposing instead a worldwide control system aimed at eliminating nuclear weapons, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s top political aide said in an interview Thursday.
Washington immediately rejected the proposal, the Post adds:
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