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Rice's Flight Delay Disrupts Meeting on Iran NewsMax.com Wires LONDON -- A meeting of world powers Friday on whether to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program was disrupted when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's flight was delayed, giving leaders little time to reach a consensus and making it unlikely.
The United States has led calls for sanctions against Iran, and even before the meeting was going ahead - without Rice - Russia warned against "extreme" measures in an indication of the reluctance to move decisively.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana told security experts in Paris that "the door to negotiations is and will be always open."
The officials from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China were to convene later Friday - but there appeared to be little agreement going into the meeting on issuing a stern response to Tehran. Story Continues Below
The representatives were expected to confirm that the European-Iranian negotiations are at a standstill and issue a statement referring the Iran file back to the Security Council and stating the principles they agree on, a senior council diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because talks are still taking place.
Those talks had been seen as a final attempt to avoid a full-blown confrontation between Iran and the Security Council after Tehran ignored an Aug. 31 deadline to suspend uranium enrichment - a key step toward making nuclear weapons - or face punishment.
Plans for the session were thrown into question, however, after Rice's flight from Iraq to London was delayed by about two hours because of mechanical problems on her C-17 military transport.
Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman who was traveling with Rice, said she would join the talks in progress but that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov would not be able to stay later than scheduled. For that reason, the six officials would not be able to finish their work and issue a statement about Iran, he said.
Instead, they would accomplish as much as possible and hold a telephone conference Monday or Tuesday, McCormack said.
"I think it is going to be a discussion first of all hearing from Solana. They can talk about what they hear from the Iranians," the spokesman said.
During her delay in Iraq, Rice spoke with Solana and the British and Russian foreign ministers to work out the revised plan, deciding to get as much done as they could in their limited meeting time, McCormack said.
To avoid alienating the Russians and the Chinese - both major commercial partners of Iran - any sanctions are likely to be relatively mild, including embargoes on missile and nuclear technology, and possible travel bans and other penalties on Iranian officials involved in their country's nuclear program.
Solana conceded this week that "endless hours" of talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, had made little progress and suggested the dispute could wind up at the U.N. soon.
He said again Friday that talks with Iran could not be open-ended, but stressed his belief that diplomacy is the only possible solution.
"I'm convinced that 'the Iran dossier' can only be solved, and will be solved, through negotiations," he said.
Lavrov said Thursday that Moscow remains opposed to sanctions against Iran for now.
"Some members of the six nations already want to impose sanctions against Iran. We, however, think first we must continue multilateral actions," he said.
"I think that until all diplomatic possibilities have been exhausted, sanctions would be extreme," Lavrov said. "I think we need to do all we can to push Iran toward starting negotiations."
On Friday, Lavrov's deputy, Alexander Alexeyev, said Russia and China would reject the use or threat of force against Iran.
"Iran is a large regional nation that has noticeable influence on the situation in a wide and very tense region. Speaking to it in the language of threats and ultimatums, attempts to drive it into a corner, are counterproductive," the Interfax news agency quoted Alexeyev as saying.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that his country would not be intimidated.
"Those who threaten Iran by sanctions and embargo should know that this nation lived under the hardest situation in the past 27 years and achieved nuclear technology. This nation will not be frightened by the threats," state-run television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
Iran insists that its enrichment of uranium is purely for peaceful purposes to be used for nuclear energy. But the United States and many European nations believe Iran wants to enrich uranium to produce nuclear weapons.
Article 41 of the U.N. Charter authorizes the Security Council to impose sanctions that do not involve the use of armed forces, such as economic penalties, breaking diplomatic relations or banning air travel.
© 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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