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Iran's UN dinner fails to break nuclear deadlock
[Al Arabiya Latest] A surprise, high-profile U.N. dinner failed to break the deadlock with Iran over its nuclear plans as the United States called it a "missed opportunity" and kept up the pressure Friday for U.N. sanctions.The Obama administration also claimed that Iran's dinner invitation to all 15 U.N. Security Council members on Thursday is another sign that Tehran is worried about its international isolation and that U.S. diplomacy is paying off. Several Western diplomats said that Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki spoke at length to his dinner guests on Thursday evening about a stalled U.N.-backed nuclear fuel exchange proposal that Security Council members Turkey and Brazil are trying to help revive. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the U.S. and other guests at the dinner failed to bridge gaps over a proposed nuclear fuel swap deal with Iran. In a "frank and professional exchange" with Mottaki, U.S. diplomat Alejandro Wolff and other council representatives "pointed out the significant flaws and shortcomings in Iran's approach," Crowley said. "Mottaki focused on the Iranian counterproposal to the Tehran research reactor, which deviates in significant ways from the balanced IAEA proposal that Iran agreed to and then walked away from last October," Crowley said. "But we see this as yet another missed opportunity by Iran to meet its international obligations," Crowley said. Posted by: Fred 2010-05-09 |
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