Obama: Window for diplomatic solution to nuclear Iran is closing
U.S. President reiterates position on Iran nuclear issue after talks with Turkish PM Erdogan; remarks come week and a half after Russian daily reported that United States had asked Russia to deliver ultimatum to Iran.
By Reuters U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday there was still time to resolve the Iranian nuclear standoff through diplomacy, but that the window for such a solution was closing.
Obama reiterated his position on the Iran nuclear issue after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on the eve of a nuclear security summit in Seoul.
 | U.S. President Barack Obama |
| Photo by: AP |
"I believe there is a window of time to solve this diplomatically, but that window is closing," Obama told reporters.
Obama has pressed Israel to hold off on any attack on Iran's nuclear sites to give sanctions and diplomacy time to work, but has said military action remains an option if all else fails.
During their talks on Sunday, Erdogan spoke to Obama of his planned visit to Iran beforethe end of the month and said he would also talk to Iranian leaders about the violence in Syria, an ally of Tehran, a seniorU.S. official said.
Obama and Erdogan also discussed providing medical supplies and communications support to the Syrian opposition but there was no talk of providing lethal aid for rebel forces, a U.S. official said.
White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, speaking to reporters after the two leaders met on the eve of a nuclear security summit in Seoul, said Washington and Ankara were open to considering further "non-lethal" aid for the Syrian opposition at a "Friends of Syria" meeting in Turkey on April 1.
"We worked on a common agenda in terms of how we can support both humanitarian efforts... (and) the efforts of Koffi Annan to bring about much needed change (in Syria)," Obama said after his meeting with Erdogan, a sharp critic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
With regard to Iran, the U.S. president made similar remarks in a joint press conference British Prime Minister David Cameron a week and a half ago, when he warned window for a diplomatic solution was "shrinking".
In those remarks, he encouraged Tehran to seize the opportunity of talks with world leaders to avert "even worse consequences."
No comments:
Post a Comment