Word: iran
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President Barack Obama spent much of his time in Asia warning Iran that his patience for nuclear diplomacy is wearing thin. "Iran has taken weeks now and has not shown its willingness to say yes to this proposal," Obama said Thursday in Seoul, referring to a deal under which Iran would export the bulk of its stock of enriched uranium to Russia for conversion into reactor fuel. "And so, as a consequence we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences...
...Friday's meeting in Brussels between representatives of the group of Western powers, Russia and China that has been negotiating with Iran produced little indication that new sanctions may be imminent if Iran continue to prevaricate. The difficulty facing Washington in mustering support for ratcheting up pressure on Iran was already clear in Thursday's statement by a Russian foreign ministry official that, "As far as we know, there has been no final official answer from Tehran", and that "there is currently no discussion on working out additional sanctions against Iran." And Friday's Brussels meeting simply reaffirmed disappointment...
...Russian position is technically correct: Iran hasn't formally responded, but for the Western powers, that's the whole point - the proposed deal was negotiated weeks ago with Iranian representatives in Vienna, and Iran's government was asked to endorse it within a couple of days. But the plan faced a firestorm of criticism from across the political spectrum in Tehran, prompting the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to backtrack. The aspect of the plan that most appeals to the West - removing from Iran most of a uranium stockpile that could hypothetically be turned into a weapon, and returning...
Rather than reject the deal, outright, Tehran declares support for its framework, but has begun floating counter-proposals on the timing and scale of the Iranian uranium exports it would involve, aiming to avoid relinquishing most of Iran's existing nuclear fuel stock by the end of this year, as the Vienna proposals envisioned. Iran's foreign minister, Manoucher Mottaki, on Wednesday reiterated that Iran would not ship out its stockpile, "but can review swapping it simultaneously with nuclear fuel inside Iran." That's simply the latest in a series of counter-proposals floated through the media, none of which...
...President spoke out on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who lives under house arrest. In China, Obama called for the communist government to meet with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader. And Obama appeared to be gaining support from Russia for tougher measures against Iran. "Other options remain on the table," Dmitri Medvedev, the Russian President said, stopping short of defining those steps. Obama's advisers are, for the moment, focused less on final resolutions and more on the long-term potential for renewed dialogue. "These are things that will pay off over time," said...