By Jesse Liebman -- March
4, 2010
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday in Brazil she has doubts Iran will negotiate seriously about its nuclear program unless the U.N. Security Council approves new sanctions against it. Clinton held talks in Brasilia with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Clinton made her appeal even though Silva pre-empted her comments by stating his opposition to early sanctions before meeting the Secretary, saying the world community should not push Iran "against a wall."
"The door is open for negotiations. We never slammed it shut," Clinton said. "But we don't see anybody, even in the far-off distance, walking toward it."
Silva reiterated his nation's position that Brazil believes
it is better to negotiate with Iran because sanctions could anger Iranian
officials.
Silva also says he wants Iran to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes -- as Brazil says it does.
Brazil's foreign minister Celso Amorim said during the news conference that he wanted to see further negotiations before the nation would support sanctions.
"We will not simply bow down to an evolving consensus if we do not agree," Amorim said. "We have to think by ourselves and with our values and principles."
Silva said he did not want Iran to develop nuclear weapons and would raise the issue in a visit to Tehran in May.
The U.S. state department has said if Brazil uses its relationship with Iran to press the country to fulfill its international obligations then that would be an important step, but if it did not do that, Washington would be "disappointed".
