Iran has delivered new proposals on its controversial nuclear program to the United States, Russia, China and other world powers.
In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki handed the package of proposals Wednesday to representatives of the six nations (the so-called P5+1 group) that have been trying to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear development program.
Details of the package are not known, but Mottaki has said Tuesday he hopes Iran’s proposals will spark a new round of nuclear talks.
Initial reactions to Iran’s proposals were guarded. President Barack Obama’s chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said Iran must live up to its responsibilities and end what he called its “illicit” [unlawful] unlawful nuclear program.
U.S. spokesman Robert Gibbs said that is the opinion not just of one country, but of the entire world community.
Another senior U.S. official said Wednesday that Iran is “moving closer” to being able to build a nuclear warhead.
The world powers most directly involved in the Iranian nuclear question – the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain), plus Germany – are considering imposing additional sanctions against Iran if Tehran’s nuclear program continues unchecked and without international review.
Speaking in Vienna Wednesday at a governing-board meeting of the U.N. nuclear-monitoring group, the International Atomic Energy Agency, U.S. envoy Glyn Davies said Iran may already have accumulated enough enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon.
Earlier this week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country will not negotiate on what he calls its right to develop nuclear technology, although he offered to ways to cooperate on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
