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Thursday, Jan 19, 2006

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Put spotlight on Iran, says Burns

Kalpana Sharma

`U.S. dedicated to finding a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear issue'

MUMBAI: U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns on Wednesday emphasised that his country had not left diplomacy behind in dealing with Iran on the nuclear issue.

Speaking to the press on the first day of his three-day visit to India, Mr. Burns said that the U.S. had entered a different phase of diplomacy.

Mr. Burns was in Mumbai for a day on his way to New Delhi where he will have meetings with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran on a number of joint agreements including India's commitment to separation of its civilian and nuclear facilities. While in Mumbai, Mr. Burns said he had not met any officials from India's nuclear facilities. Instead, most of his meetings were with the business community including one with the Chairman of the Tata group of companies, Ratan Tata, who heads the CEO Forum that had accompanied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington last July.

Consensus

Following his meeting in London on Monday with representatives of France, the U.K., Germany, Russia and China, Mr. Burns said there was a consensus on a number of issues. "All agreed that Iran should turn back from its nuclear plan, should return to negotiations, should suspend work on its centrifuges and should heed the words of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the international community," he said. The U.S., he said, strongly supported the European Union's decision to call an emergency meeting of the IAEA on February 2 and 3 and thereafter referring the matter to the Security Council. "The votes are already present," he said.

Asked whether this meant that China and Russia had changed from their previous position of opposing the U.S. plan to refer the Iran issue to the Security Council, Mr. Burns said he could not speak for these two countries. He acknowledged that there was no unanimity on all points but that there was agreement on the significant point that Iran should listen to the international community. "A bright spotlight should be put on the Iranian regime and it should answer questions that the rest of the world has," he said.

`Unique venture'

The talks in New Delhi, Mr. Burns said, would focus on a number of issues apart from the civilian nuclear cooperation deal signed by Manmohan Singh and President Bush in Washington on July 18, 2005. He acknowledged that the agreement posed several challenges and was "a unique venture in international diplomacy."

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