Iran Focus: London, Dec. 21 United States President George W. Bush said on Wednesday that his administration would hold talks with Iran only if it verifiably suspended its uranium enrichment program. Iran Focus
London, Dec. 21 United States President George W. Bush said on Wednesday that his administration would hold talks with Iran only if it verifiably suspended its uranium enrichment program.
“Let me start with Iran. We made it perfectly clear to them what it takes to come to the table, and that is a suspension of their enrichment program. If they verifiably suspend enrichment, we will come to the table with our EU3 partners and Russia, and discuss a way forward for them”, Bush told reporters at a press conference in Washington, D.C.
“If they want to sit down with us, for the good of the Iranian people, they ought to verifiably suspend their program. We’ve made that clear to them. It is obvious to them how to move forward”, Bush said.
“The Iranian people can do better than becoming — than be an isolated nation. This is a proud nation with a fantastic history and tradition. And yet they’ve got a leader who constantly sends messages to the world that Iran is out of step with the majority of thinkers, that Iran is willing to become isolated — to the detriment of the people”, he added.
Bush said he was amazed that Tehran recently held a conference rejecting the Holocaust and heralding a “backward” view of the history of the world. “All that said to me is that the leader in Iran is willing to say things that really hurts his country and further isolates the Iranian people”.
He added that Washington was working hard to get a United Nations Security Council resolution on Iran’s nuclear activities.
“My message to the Iranian people is you can do better than to have somebody try to rewrite history. You can do better than somebody who hasn’t strengthened your economy. And you can do better than having somebody who’s trying to develop a nuclear weapon that the world believes you shouldn’t have. There’s a better way forward”, Bush said.
