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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Australia mediating US-Iran nuclear stand-off |
| 2005-02-06 |
| Australia had become a mediator in a nuclear stand-off between Iran and the United States, Prime Minister John Howard said today, in a move that mirrors Australia's role in the North Korea nuclear crisis. Howard said Australia had been able to use its close alliance with the United States and diplomatic ties with Iran to act as a go-between for the two nations -- a role illustrated when US President George W Bush called him on Friday. ''I was able to talk at some length with President Bush about the substance of my discussion with the Iranian Foreign Minister (at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland),'' Howard told Australian television. ''I think all of that helps ... There are a number of countries around the world that we talk to that the Americans don't talk to in the same way and we are able to pass on information,'' he said. Australia has used its diplomatic ties with North Korea to also act as a mediator between the reclusive communist state and the United States in a bid to break a deadlock over Pyonyang's nuclear ambitions. Oil-rich Iran insists its nuclear programme is aimed at the peaceful generation of electricity, but the United States has alleged the country is developing nuclear weapons. Howard urged Iran to negotiate on its nuclear capacity with Britain, Germany and France -- who have taken the lead in persuading Iran not to build a nuclear bomb -- and said he does not believe the United States would attack the Islamic republic. ''I don't believe the Americans are getting ready to have a go at them,'' he said. In his State of the Union speech on Wednesday, Bush promised to ''stand with'' the Iranian people in what he sees as their quest for liberty, but US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday in Berlin there were no immediate plans to attack Iran. |
| Posted by:tipper |