Rice Confident of U.N. Action on Iran
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Oct 21, 9:58 AM (ET)
By ANNE GEARAN
http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fapnews.myway.com%2Farticle%2F20061021%2FD8KT2EVO0.htmlMOSCOW (AP) - The swift move to penalize North Korea for its nuclear test could clear the way for punishing Iran over its disputed nuclear program, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday. "It really does help to create a momentum," Rice said after leaving four days of crisis talks in Asia in response to the North's test.
Yet Rice as headed into meetings with Russian leaders on North Korea and Iran, the foreign minister insisted Moscow will not allow the United Nations to impose punitive sanctions against Tehran.
"We won't be able to support and will oppose any attempts to use the Security Council to punish Iran or use Iran's program in order to promote the ideas of regime change there," Sergey Lavrov told the Kuwaiti News Agency KUNA, according to a posting on the Russian Foreign Ministry's Web site Saturday. Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and can veto its actions.
Rice's last stop before Russia was China, North Korea's traditional ally, where she met with a Chinese government envoy just back from a hastily arranged visit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Rice said the envoy, State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, told her nothing that confirmed news reports about conciliatory moves from the North.