Rice: No sanctions for now
Photo: AP
Rice: No Iran sanctions for now
U.S. Secretary of State says Security Council unlikely to impose Iran sanctions at this stage
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday said the United Nations Security Council was unlikely to impose sanctions on Iran as a first step in dealing with the disagreement over its nuclear programme.
"I would expect that you would need at least something that tries to give (U.N. nuclear watchdog) the IAEA the weight of the Security Council in order to get Iran to do something.
"But I don't think people are talking about going directly to sanctions," Rice told reporters traveling with President George W. Bush in Pakistan.
The IAEA referred Iran to the Security Council about a month ago, but according to Rice, Tehran has still not made the kind of statements the Americans are interested in hearing.
Earlier Saturday, Iran's deputy oil minister said his country will not use oil to press the international community over its nuclear programme. However, the deputy minister made it clear Iran's position will be reconsidered should sanctions be imposed.
Meanwhile, U.S. President George W. Bush also addressed the Iranian question and noted Iran's plans to acquire nuclear arms threatens world piece and stressed efforts must be made to ensure such weapons do not reach the hands of radicals.
In a joint press conference with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Bush said the alliance with Pakistan is important to the war against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
