AFP,  Berlin, April 12, 2010  – Time is pressing for a decision on more international sanctions on Iran for its suspected nuclear weapons development, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday.
’I think time is pressing, and a decision on eventual sanctions should be taken very soon,’ Merkel told journalists before flying to Washington for a summit on nuclear security hosted by US President Barack Obama.
A source close to the government said that the ’decisive phase’ should be before the end of this month.
Merkel noted that the Russian and Chinese presidents, Dmitry Medvedev and Hu Jintao, who have so far been hesitant about the need for new sanctions, would both be at the Washington summit.
Merkel said she wanted to determine how far the two countries would go in either voting for sanctions or using their veto in the United Nations Security Council.
Officially Iran is not on the summit agenda, but a government source said it would be on everyone’s mind.
The source said Merkel would also have a one-on-one meeting with Obama, probably after the summit ends on Tuesday.
Obama will welcome leaders from 46 other nations to an unprecedented meeting aimed at safeguarding unsecured uranium and separated plutonium stockpiles and averting the nightmare scenario of extremist groups acquiring nuclear weapons.
Washington is leading an effort to toughen sanctions within weeks on Iran over its nuclear programme, which the United States and allies say is aimed at producing weapons, a charge Tehran denies.