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Annan: Iran will negotiate
03/09/2006 14:19 - (SA)
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| UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, listens to the Iranian foreign minister, Manoucher Mottaki, during a joint press conference, in Tehran. (Vahid Salemi, AP) |
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Tehran - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday reaffirmed
support for a UN resolution on Lebanon and his determination
to negotiate an end to Tehran's nuclear standoff with the West.
Annan has been touring the region seeking to shore up the
ceasefire that halted a 34-day war in Lebanon between Israel and
Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas.
UN Resolution 1701 drew up the terms for the ceasefire,
including expanding an existing UN peacekeeping force in
Lebanon and calling for an arms embargo on Hizbollah.
After meeting Ahmadinejad, Annan said the Iranian president
"reaffirmed his country's support for the implementation of
Resolution 1701 and agrees with me that we should do everything
to strengthen the territorial integrity of Lebanon."
Annan's visit also came just days after Tehran failed to
meet a UN security council deadline to halt sensitive nuclear
work which the United States says is aimed at producing a
nuclear weapon but Tehran says is to meet energy needs.
"On the nuclear issue, the president reaffirmed to me Iran's
preparedness and determination to negotiate and find a solution
to the crisis," Annan told a news conference in Tehran.
UN officials said Annan had also requested to meet Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the highest authority
under the Islamic Republic's system of clerical rule. Khamenei
has also said Iran would press ahead with its atomic plans.
UN officials said early on Sunday that no meeting with
Khamenei had been scheduled so Annan was expected to leave Iran
later on Sunday without seeing him.
Italian troops arrive in Lebanon
Iran funded and armed Hizbollah in the 1980s although it now
says its support is primarily moral and political. But Iran is
still widely believed to be the main arms supplier for the
Lebanese militia.
More than 500 Italian troops had landed in south Lebanon by
mid-morning on Sunday from a force of 800 that had arrived off
Lebanon to help keep the peace. Heavy equipment would be flown
in later on Sunday, a UN spokesperson said.
Italy has pledged 3 000 troops to a UN plan to increase
the existing 2 000 peacekeepers in Lebanon to 15 000 to help
enforce the truce. Italy's contingent will be the biggest in the
force, known as Unifil II.
- Reuters
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