AFP: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted that the Iran nuclear crisis must now go to the UN Security Council, rejecting a call for international talks outside the world body. 
SAN JUAN (AFP) – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted that the Iran nuclear crisis must now go to the UN Security Council, rejecting a call for international talks outside the world body.
While saying that more meetings of the main countries involved in the controversy were likely, Rice said: “I think what is ahead of us now is pretty clear and that is the Security Council.”
Speaking on a stopover in the Puerto Rico capital while heading for Chile, Rice said the main powers had agreed that if Iran did not respond to International Atomic Energy Agency calls for cooperation then its case should be referred to the UN Security Council.
“I am always happy to meet with my colleagues but I think we know what we need to do now,” Rice said.
US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns earlier said the Security Council talks will be “early next week.”
Washington believes Iran’s nuclear programme is hiding efforts to develop an atomic bomb. Tehran insists its aim is peaceful.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier Friday that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany should meet for talks on Iran before the case went to the world body.
Lavrov said that although the situation was critical, “this does not mean that now we must now all go to the Security Council and start demanding, threatening and carrying out threats.”
