Door not closed on Iran talks
2006-07-12 22:15
Paris - World powers have kept open the
door for talks with Iran, Germany's foreign minister said on
Wednesday following a meeting with his counterparts from the
United States, Britain, Russia, China and France.
Earlier, the world powers said they would refer Iran to the United
Nations security council after Tehran failed to respond quickly
enough to a package of incentives aimed at defusing a nuclear
stand-off.
"We have not finally closed the door to negotiations,"
Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters.
He said he hoped that some within the Iranian leadership
would understand the signal being sent by the six world powers
and would be ready to return to the negotiating table.
Steinmeier said if Iran failed to react "within an
appropriate time", the six powers would meet again "to discuss
further measures, possibly including sanctions".
Separately, a European official said world powers wanted to
get an UN resolution on Iran agreed within the next few weeks.
"We want to get the first resolution sorted out in the next
couple of weeks," the official said.
- Reuters