UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has encouraged the United States to hold direct talks with Iran and expressed hope that an agreement can be reached to settle the nuclear dispute.
The UN chief called for intensified diplomatic efforts to press the Iranians to suspend uranium enrichment while putting something on the table for Tehran, possibly technology or assurances that nobody is going to blow up their nuclear facilities.
"It would also be good if the US were to be at the table with the Europeans, the Iranians, the Russians, to try and work this out," Mr Annan said in an interview yesterday on American television.
"I think it would be a good idea because the Iranians give you the impression that . . . whatever they discuss with the Europeans had to be checked with the US and come back," he added.
The secretary-general spoke as the UN Security Council started discussing a Western-backed resolution that would make mandatory an earlier council demand that Iran stop uranium enrichment or face the threat of "further measures."
Britain, France and Germany have been leading talks to try to get Iran to give up its enrichment programme, but Tehran is pressing ahead, insisting it is legally entitled to produce nuclear energy for electricity under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The three European nations, backed by the United States, want the programme stopped because they believe Iran's real goal is to use the enriched uranium to produce nuclear weapons.
Iran said this week it is now enriching uranium to 4.8 per cent, the level required for fuelling nuclear power reactors. That level is far below the enrichment of more than 90 per cent that is required for making nuclear weapons.
AP