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President Obama says the international community will re-evaluate Iran’s nuclear cessation posture in September.
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10 July 2009
Iran’s Approach on Nuclear Offer to be Re-Evaluated in September, July 10, 2009
By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer
Washington — President Obama welcomed the consensus by the Group of Eight (G8) nations on the need for Iran to meet its responsibilities to the international community on its nuclear program and the G8’s condemnation of the violence against peaceful protesters in the wake of Iran’s June presidential elections.
The world is faced with “a real-time challenge on nuclear proliferation in Iran,” and the country’s nuclear program poses proliferation risks to the rest of the international community, Obama said. The president’s comments came in a July 10 press conference at the conclusion of the three-day summit of the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States in L’Aquila, Italy.
“We’ve offered Iran a path toward assuming its rightful place in the world. But with that right comes responsibilities,” Obama said, referring to offers of direct engagement and incentives in exchange for Iran stopping its nuclear program. (See “Iran at a Crossroad, Historic Opportunity for a Better Future.”)
Obama said the G8 nations hope Iran will choose to fulfill its responsibilities, and added, “We will take stock of Iran’s progress when we see each other this September” at a meeting of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing countries to be held in Pittsburgh.
The September meeting provides a time frame for the international community before it evaluates Iran’s “posture toward negotiating the cessation of a nuclear weapons policy,” he said.
The international community has offered Iran’s leaders a door that would allow for a decrease in tensions and increase Iran’s ability to participate more fully with the rest of the world, and the president said he hopes the Iranian leadership will recognize that the international community’s opinion is clear.
“We provide that door, but we also say we’re not going to just wait indefinitely and allow for the development of a nuclear weapon, the breach of international treaties, and wake up one day and find ourselves in a much worse situation and unable to act,” Obama said.
G8 leaders agreed on a statement July 8 saying that although they have “full respect” for Iran’s sovereignty, they “deplore post-electoral violence” in which Iranian civilians were killed by government and paramilitary forces. “Interference with media, unjustified detentions of journalists and recent arrests of foreign nationals are unacceptable,” the G8 statement said, reminding Iranian leaders of their obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and calling for democratic dialogue based on the rule of law between the government and the political opposition.
President Obama said the G8 countries are “seriously concerned about the appalling events surrounding the presidential election.” Behavior such as storming foreign embassies and arresting their personnel as well as Iranian restrictions on journalists “just violates basic international norms,” he said.
“I think that the real story here was consensus in that statement, including Russia, which doesn’t make statements like that lightly,” he added.
In the three days of discussions, the G8, joined by officials from more than 25 other nations and representatives of international organizations, agreed to “significant measures” to address pressing threats to the environment, the global economy and international security.
The president said the international community is at a “defining moment” and faces the choice to “either shape our future or let events shape it for us.”
“The threat of climate change can’t be contained by borders on a map, and the theft of loose nuclear materials could lead to the extermination of any city on Earth,” he said. “Reckless actions by a few have fueled a recession that spans the globe, and rising food prices means that 100 million of our fellow citizens are expected to fall into desperate poverty.”
Obama called for countries to move past the “stale debates and old disagreements of the past,” and to recognize shared interests and aspirations. The international community can “work together to create a safer and cleaner and more prosperous world for future generations,” he said.
For more information on the summit, see Group of Eight Summit: Taking Stock, Looking Ahead.
