SINGAPORE: US President Barack Obama said on Sunday time was running out for diplomacy in a dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, but a top Iranian official said it was up to the West to show it sincerely wanted a deal.
Russia and France, both involved in talks with Iran over what the West fears are its plans for an atomic bomb, also put pressure on Tehran, with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner saying the Islamic republic looked set to reject a UN-drafted accord. Obama suggested patience was running low in the dispute with Iran, which faces possible harsher international sanctions or even Israeli military action.
“Unfortunately, so far at least, Iran appears to have been unable to say yes to what everyone acknowledges is a creative and constructive approach,” Obama said after talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Singapore.
“We are running out of time with respect to that approach.” Repeating previous Russian language, Medvedev said “other means” could be used if discussions did not yield results, but did not specify what they might be.
A senior adviser to Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said no official response to the proposal had been announced.
“We are waiting to see how much sincerity the Western countries have in their pledges,” said Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said US policy including steps to renew sanctions showed Obama was no better than his predecessor George W. Bush. The remarks in the legislature prompted lawmakers’ chants of “Death to America.”
Asked by a newspaper whether a final Iranian decision was pending, France’s Kouchner said: “You could phrase it that way, but in effect the answer has almost been given already, and it is negative. That’s a shame, a shame, a shame.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said an end-of-year deadline for Iran remained.
