White House: Iran turned down proposal at Geneva
Despite reported progress in nuclear talks, White House says Iranians did not accept proposal. PM Netanyahu says he supports diplomatic effort, but not proposal that was presented
WASHINGTON – The White House released a statement Tuesday saying that Iran turned down the proposal of the six powers at the Geneva talks.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that "the P-5 plus one were unified on the proposal that was put forward and that the Iranians did not accept that proposal. And that's a statement of fact."
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He noted that while important progress was made, "gaps remain, and there are still important issues to be addressed between the P-5 plus one and Iran, and that is why there will be a break, as you know, and the P-5 plus one will resume negotiations with Iran on November 21st and 22nd."
Carney noted that "the purpose of these negotiations is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon... Resolving this diplomatically is the best way to resolve it. It is the responsibility of the president to pursue a diplomatic opening, because the best way to ensure that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon is to achieve an agreement through diplomacy, an agreement that's verifiable, that's transparent and that requires Iran to take concrete steps.
"The alternative is military action. The president has never taken any option off the table, and he does not now and will not. But it is his responsibility as president to pursue a diplomatic opening to see if it is possible to resolve this issue peacefully.
"The American people justifiably and understandably prefer a peaceful solution that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and this agreement, if it's achieved, has the potential to do that. The American people do not want a march to war," the US press secretary added.
Addressing the attempts to resolve the issue of nuclear Iran diplomatically, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday in a Tel Aviv conference on alternative fuel, that Israel is interested in a diplomatic solution, but not the one proposed in Geneva.
"We want a diplomatic solution that's a real solution," Netanyahu said. "A good deal that dismantles Iran's nuclear capabilities."
The prime minister noted that Israel was interested in "preventing Iran from achieving its goal, from developing nuclear capability."
He added that the deal devised in Geneva "leaves Iran with all its facilities… gives Iran a tremendous break," adding that he speaks "not only on behalf of Israel, but also on behalf of many, many others.
I speak for a bigger cause – the cause of peace."
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