Rice: US Will Continue to Pursue Sanctions Against Iran in Nuclear Dispute
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Washington and other world powers have agreed to keep up pressure on Iran
over its disputed nuclear program, including more possible sanctions.
Rice told reporters after talks with her NATO counterparts in Brussels Friday that all agree to continue a push for
additional U.N. sanctions, if Iran refuses to stop enriching uranium - a process that can be used in developing nuclear
weapons.
Secretary Rice also met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the meeting, but did not appear to
have changed Russia's opposition to additional sanctions on Iran.
Lavrov told reporters that Moscow wants more talks in dealing with Iran's disputed nuclear program.
His meeting with Rice comes after a new U.S. intelligence assessment said Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program in
2003.
Russia has said its intelligence found no proof that Iran ever had a nuclear weapons program.
The United States says the findings in the intelligence report show that international pressure on Tehran has had an
effect and must continue.
Iran has never acknowledged having a nuclear weapons program and says its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes
only.
ENDS