United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday that Iran would face “isolation” if it did not establish a nuclear programme that meets international standards.
Speaking after talks with Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Rice also stressed that Iran faced a United Nations Security Council resolution over its nuclear programme, which Washington and its allies believe hides efforts to build a nuclear bomb.
“We will have Security Council action,” Rice said.
“The issue is that Iran knows that there are two options that have been there all along, which is they can have a civil nuclear programme that is appropriate and that the international community can support, or they can face isolation.”
Rice said earlier that the West would now wait “a couple of weeks” before pressing UN action so that European allies, Britain, France and Germany, can come up with a new package aimed at making Iran meet international demands.
The foreign ministers from the so-called EU-3 will meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss possible measures, but Solana said he did not think anything would be “finalised” by Monday.
Another meeting on Iran is to be held in London on May 19 involving the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. — AFP