Obama at G8: We are united on Iran
US President Barack Obama stresses that the situation in Iran is 'very worrying', US official: G8 agrees that rapid action on Syria is required
WASHINGTON- The fact that Iran has violated international regulations and is far from proving that it is not trying to achieve nuclear weapons capability is "very worrying for all of us," US President Barack Obama said Saturday at the G8 meeting at Camp David
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Obama stressed that the G8 leaders were united in their stance on Iran: "I think all of us agree that Iran has the right to peaceful nuclear power, but that its continuing violations of international rules and norms and its inability thus far to convince the world community that it is not pursuing the weaponization of nuclear power is something of grave concern to all of us," the US president said.
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The president spoke a day before International Atomic Energy Agency head Yukia Amano was due to arrive in Tehran to try and hammer out the final details of an agreement that would allow the IAEA to continue probing whether Iran is, in fact, developing nuclear weapons.
G8 leaders at the round table on Saturday (Photo: MCT)
An official statement from the IAEA said only that Amano "will discuss subjects of mutual interest with senior officials." Amano's visit is slated to last one day only, and includes a meeting with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.
The G8 meeting is taking place days before the next round of international talks on Iran is due to kick off in Baghdad.
The G8 leaders taking part in the summit were also in broad agreement on the need for rapid action on a plan to facilitate political transition in Syria. "We all believe that a peaceful resolution and political transition in Syria is preferable. We are all deeply concerned about the violence that's taking place there and the loss of life," Obama said.
However, the G8 summit is focused mainly on the ramifications for the world's economy if Greece leaves the euro bloc. In a meeting Friday, Obama and new French President Francois Hollande aligned themselves in support of increased incentives for depressed European economies, as opposed to the tough austerity programs that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling for.
Obama's stance reflects his concern that a spiraling crisis in the euro bloc could harm the fragile economic recovery of the US and in turn his chance for re-election in November.
After meeting with Hollande, Obama said that they agreed that dealing with the euro bloc crisis was "an unusually important issue, not only for Europeans, but also for the entire global economy."
