AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
WASHINGTON: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Thursday that Washington should enter into direct talks with Iran over its disputed nuclear program to help defuse the growing international crisis.
Annan said in an interview on US television that the United States should join talks under way between Iran and other governments as Tehran might be holding back in negotiations with European states because of Washington's absence.
“If everybody — all of the stakeholders and the key players — were around the table, I think it would be possible to work out a package that would satisfy the concerns of everybody,” Annan told The Newshour with Jim Lehrer on PBS television when asked whether it was time for the US to engage in direct talks.
In previous negotiations between Britain, France, Germany, the Iranians may have been hesitant as they suspected the European envoys were having to consult on issues with Washington, he said.
“When you are in that sort of a mood, given their own culture, you probably don't put everything on the table,” Annan said.
Washington has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since 1980 after the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979 in which 52 Americans were held for 444 days.
Annan said the Iranians could soon “find themselves in a very difficult situation” if they resist compromise solutions after having insisted their program was purely peaceful.
If Iran was offered a proposal that would allow them to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, “and they resist that, how do they explain it to the world?” he asked.
UN Security Council members are weighing a draft resolution circulated by France and Britain that would demand a halt to Iran's uranium enrichment work.
The Franco-British draft invokes Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which can authorize economic sanctions or even military action as a last resort in cases of threats to international peace and security.
Iran insists its nuclear ambitions are strictly peaceful. But Washington accuses Tehran of using its civilian program as a cover to build atomic weapons, and is seeking tough UN action.
Asked if the standoff could be resolved peacefully, Annan said: “I hope so. I think it would be a real tragedy if we were to resort to violence in this situation.”
He said that Iran's nuclear ambitions had to be seen in a broader context of delicate issues in a troubled region. “When you look at the situation in the Middle East today, it is very fragile,” he said.
“I believe we should do whatever we can, the international community should stand together to get Iran to comply” with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Annan said.
Iran needed to build confidence within the international community that its program was for purely peaceful purposes, he said.
“They must demonstrate transparently that they have nothing to hide.”
Annan also said that he believed Iran had overstated and “hyped up” progress achieved so far in its nuclear research.
