Annan wins Iran's support on Lebanon

TEHERAN: UN chief Kofi Annan yesterday won a pledge from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to support a UN resolution bringing peace to Lebanon. But he was warned Iran would not suspend sensitive nuclear work before negotiations.

Annan said Ahmadinejad assured him Teheran would support the implementation of the UN resolution that ended the fighting in Lebanon and was ready to negotiate over its nuclear programme.

"He reaffirmed his complete support for the implementation of (Security Council) Resolution 1701" which halted the devastating month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Annan said.

He added that Ahmadinejad had agreed that Iran, which backs the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, would "do everything to support the territorial integrity of Lebanon and the independence of Lebanon."

"Teheran will work together with us in a collective effort to reconstruct Lebanon," he added.

Annan's 10-day tour of the Middle East has been mainly aimed at implementing the UN resolution which halted the 34-day conflict that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, overwhelmingly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

State radio quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that "Iran is ready to help in the reconstruction of Lebanon and seriously take part in any group activity to rebuild Lebanon."

Meanwhile Ahmadinejad told Annan at the Teheran meeting that he was prepared to negotiate on Iran's nuclear programme but would not accept a suspension of uranium enrichment before talks, rejecting a key demand of Western countries.

"The president assured me... Iran is prepared to negotiate and find a way out of this crisis," Annan said.

But he added that Ahmadinejad had also said that "Iran does not accept a suspension (of uranium enrichment) before negotiations."

Annan expressed hope that the Islamic republic and international community would find a way to move forward at talks between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's top national security official Ali Larijani this week.

Iran has defied Western demands to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to make nuclear fuel and, in highly extended form, the explosive core of an atomic bomb.

Its rejection of a UN deadline which expired last Thursday to halt enrichment has left it facing a push by the United States for the Security Council to impose sanctions on Teheran.

Annan, in a weekend newspaper interview, expressed reservations over the US drive to impose sanctions, warning patience would prove more effective than sanctions in persuading Iran to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment work.

The UN chief told reporters that he had had a "very good discussion" with Ahmadinejad on the nuclear issue which he would discuss with the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany, which offered Iran an incentives package to suspend uranium enrichment.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said he expected the European Union to take a stand on its response to the offer aimed at ending the standoff, insisting negotiations were the only way out of the crisis.

Solana said during talks in Finland with EU foreign ministers at the weekend that the European Union was giving Iran a "short" time but no set deadline to move into talks on suspending uranium enrichment.

Source: China Daily