Agence France Presse reported: A US official threw cold water Wednesday on a call by Russia to give Iran security guarantees to help resolve the deadlock over its nuclear program.
“It’s not something that we think would be appropriate,” State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters when asked about Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s call for leading powers to give Iran such guarantees.
“It’s not something we’re looking for, although we do think it would be appropriate if Iran would stop threatening the existence of Israel,” Casey said.
At talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Russia, Lavrov hoped the proposal would be taken up by six powers that are trying to negotiate a halt to Iran’s uranium enrichment program, Russian news agencies reported.
The six powers are the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — which are the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — and Germany. They are known as the P5-plus-1.
The six have been using a mix of incentives and sanctions to try to persuade Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment work.