globalsecurity.org/VOA 28 January 2010
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that Iran's disappointing approach to big-power offers on its nuclear program leaves little choice but to put more pressure on Tehran. Clinton held meetings on Iran with several foreign ministers on the sidelines of the London conference on Afghanistan.
Despite the day's focus on Afghanistan, the Iran nuclear issue figured prominently in Clinton's series of bilateral meetings, including what she said was a very constructive conversation with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.
A senior U.S. official said Iran was the main focus of the meeting with Yang. He said that while Beijing has concerns that new U.N. sanctions against Tehran could endanger prospects for a negotiated solution to the nuclear issue, Yang did not say no to the idea.
Clinton told reporters that China is an engaged and very active member of the informal grouping of the five permanent U.N. Security Council member countries and Germany - the P5+1 - that has conducted nuclear diplomacy with Iran.
Clinton said she and Yang agreed to step up bilateral dialogue on possible measures against Iran.
"We shared some of our thoughts with our Chinese counterparts. We also set up some additional opportunities for expert consultations," she declared. "We made it clear to everyone with whom I spoke today and yesterday that our efforts to apply pressure on Iran are not meant to punish the Iranian people. They are meant to change the approach that the Iranian government has taken toward its nuclear program," she said.
Clinton said Iran's refusal to accept a U.N. backed compromise proposal on uranium enrichment and disclosure that it was building a secret enrichment plant near Qom have only added to doubts about Tehran's assertions that its nuclear program is peaceful.
