London Talks Did Not Reach Iran Consensus-Germany

Reuters:

A meeting of European, Russian, Chinese and U.S. officials in London on Monday did not produce a full consensus on how to proceed with Iran over its nuclear programme, a senior German diplomat said on Tuesday. German Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler, speaking on German public television, confirmed that agreement had been reached to convene an extraordinary meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Feb. 2. READ MORE

But he said there were still disagreements among the countries that met in London over the content of a planned resolution referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council and what the goal of such a resolution should be.

"We remain in talks about what should be decided there and what the role of the United Nations should be," Erler said. "That is a sign that we could not reach a full agreement what the goal of the IAEA is through a resolution but that more time is needed."

Erler added that it remained important to seek a diplomatic solution to the impasse over Iran's nuclear programme.

Leading European countries and the United States suspect Iran is developing nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian atomic energy programme. At the meeting in London, they had hoped to convince China and Russia to back their efforts to take Iran to the Security Council.

Tehran denies charges it is seeking nuclear weapons, insisting its ambitions are limited to power generation.

"We remain of the opinion that there definitely must be a diplomatic solution," Erler said. "Western states and the Europeans are ready at any time to restart talks, but only if Iran fulfils the pledges it has made."