NEW YORK, TEL AVIV (Agencies)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned in Tel Aviv that using military force against Iran over its nuclear program would have a “disastrous effect”, as former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said the only way to resolve the impasse was dialogue.
"We cannot, I'm sure, take on another military action in Iran, and I hope no one is contemplating it," Annan said at a briefing with U.N. correspondents in New York on Thursday.
"It will be a real disaster. I really don't see any other solution than the continued negotiations and dialogue that is going on."
Vice President Dick Cheney have ratcheted up the rhetoric against Iran, which is defying international demands to halt uranium enrichment. They say Washington wants a diplomatic solution to the Iran standoff but refuse to rule out military options.
Tehran says its nuclear purposes are peaceful but Washington and other countries fear this is not the case.
During a press conference with his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni in Tel Aviv, Lavrov repeated Annan’s warnings on Iran.
"Any attempts to resolve this issue (Iran) by non-peaceful means would undermine all that has been done to bring clarity into the Iranian nuclear program," Lavrov told reporters.
Lavrov also warned against attempts to undermine the International Atomic Energy Agency inspection of Tehran's program.
"As long as the inspectors report that they have not found that there is some deviation of this program into the military field I think it would be disastrous for us to undermine this very efficient and important process."
Israel and its chief ally the United States have refused to rule out military action against Iran in order to halt its nuclear program. |
