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Powers wield sanction threat after Iran stalemate

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-07-20 10:17

GENEVA - Major powers gave Iran two weeks to answer calls to rein in its nuclear programme on Saturday or face tougher sanctions after talks ended in stalemate despite unprecedented US participation.

US Undersecretary of State William Burns sits before a meeting with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on nuclear issues at the Town Hall in Geneva July 19, 2008. [Agencies]

A US State Department spokesman said Washington hoped Iran now understood that it had a choice between cooperation and "confrontation, which can only lead to further isolation".

But prospects of ending a row that has triggered regional tensions and rattled oil markets looked dim as Iran's top nuclear negotiator insisted Tehran would not even discuss a demand to freeze uranium enrichment at the next meeting.

"We still didn't get the answer we were looking for," European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after some six hours of talks in Geneva with Iran's Saeed Jalili and envoys from the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain -- the so-called sextet of world powers.

Solana said he hoped for a clear answer from Tehran in around two weeks to a month-old sextet offer of trade and technical incentives to halt enrichment.

Asked whether Tehran would otherwise face a new round of the UN Security Council sanctions that analysts say are already beginning to bite on its economy, he told a news conference:

Related readings:  Iran rules out enrichment freeze  Iran hopes for 'constructive' talks  Iran welcomes US involvement in talks  Iran has clear 'red lines' in nuke talks

"The Iranians know very well what will continue to happen if nothing happens otherwise."

Diplomats said the presence of senior US envoy William Burns at the talks underlined the unity of major powers in the dispute, and stressed that patience was running out with Iran.

"There is nothing more to talk about. The Iranians are running the risk of foreclosing their options," said one diplomat in Gevena, warning they risked "going down the path which means further measures in the EU and the UN"

Solana said he hoped for more contacts with Iran "telephonically or physically", but officials made clear that any subsequent contacts would be at a lower level than Saturday's talks.

Cooperation or confrontation

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: "We hope the Iranian people understand that their leaders need to make a choice between cooperation, which would bring benefits to all, and confrontation, which can only lead to further isolation."

The UN has imposed three sets of sanctions on Iran in a stand-off that goes back to the revelation in 2002 by an exiled opposition group of the existence of a uranium enrichment facility and heavy water plant in the country.

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