CNN.com - U.S., Europe balk at new talks with Iran

• Iran crisis: World powers at odds

• Q&A: What next in Iran crisis?

• Israel: Iran must not get nukes

• TIME.com: Iran silences critics

• Saudi urges Iran to forgo nukes

QUICKVOTE

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

(CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that Washington has no interest in negotiating with Iran on its nuclear activities, and she was joined by a chorus of international leaders, apparently fed up with haggling with the Islamic republic.

U.S. and European leaders suspect Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program; Tehran insists it is conducting only research and wants to resume negotiations with the Europeans.

"It's the Iranians who walked away from negotiations, who broke the moratorium," Rice said. "As that condition exists, I am sensing from the Europeans that there's not much to talk about." (Watch whether Iran presents a nuclear threat -- 2:41)

During her Wednesday remarks at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, she said Iran's history with the International Atomic Energy Agency makes it difficult for the international community to trust the nation.

"The Iranians want to make this about their rights. This is not about their rights," Rice said. "It's about the ability of the international system to trust them with capabilities and technologies that could lead to a nuclear weapon. And they have a history with the IAEA of not disclosing, of covering their activities. And so no one does trust them with those technologies."

Iran recently announced that it had broken the seals at its Natanz uranium-enrichment plant to resume nuclear research and insisted it is not pursuing nuclear weapons.

An IAEA official said the agency's board of governors will convene February 2 to discuss Iran's program. The announcement comes after negotiators from three European nations -- Britain, France and Germany -- reached a stalemate with Iran and asked the IAEA to step in.

Tehran wants the Europeans to come back to the table. But on Wednesday,international leaders joined Rice in denouncing the Iranian decision to break the seals.

"That doesn't make much sense, to have another meeting, if there's nothing new on what they are going to put on the table," said Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief.

EU President Wolfgang Schuessel, the Austrian chancellor, echoed Solana's concerns and urged Iran to adhere to a nuclear moratorium.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad intensified international concerns recently when he denied that the Holocaust occurred and called for Israel to be wiped off the map or moved to Europe.

After meeting with Rice on Wednesday, former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres told reporters at the State Department that Iran is "the greatest danger in our time" and should be stopped from developing nuclear technology as well as long-range missiles.

Citing Ahmadinejad's comments, Peres expressed concern that Iran might develop weapons that could travel the 1,243 miles (2,000 kilometers) to Israel, but he rejected any idea that Israel should take unilateral action against Iran. Israeli aircraft bombed a nuclear plant near Baghdad, Iraq, in 1981, when it was suspected that the plant was part of a program by Saddam Hussein to develop nuclear weapons.

"There is nobody in the world that is threatening Iran, but you cannot have a situation where Iran is threatening everybody in the world," he said. "What is needed now is a united policy. Otherwise, the Iranians will make a mockery of every announced declaration by any party."

Rice said Iran also has interfered with the progress of democracy in the Middle East and has sponsored militant, fundamentalist groups such as the Lebanese-based Hezbollah.

"Iran is simply 180 degrees out of step with the rest of the trends of the Middle East," she said.

Iran has lukewarm support from two Asian superpowers, Russia and China, that could play integral roles in deciding Iran's fate if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council.

On Wednesday, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemned the manufacture of nuclear arms as contrary to the tenets of Islam, according to Iran's state-run news agency, IRNA.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, through reliance on its principles, will proceed with scientific studies regardless of the hue and cry, and the world could not affect Iranian national resolve," IRNA quoted Khamenei as saying.

But the European Union was not convinced that Iran is interested solely in research, and Solana said that after the Vienna, Austria-based IAEA meets next month, Iran's nuclear issue will be referred to the U.N. Security Council. The council could consider sanctions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Wednesday that the chances of the Security Council taking up the issue is "remote," the IRNA reported.

Russia or China, which are permanent members of the council, could use its veto power to block any proposed sanctions.

Neither country has indicated whether it would block sanctions. However, President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia's position on how to handle the nuclear standoff is similar to that of the United States and other European countries.

U.S., Europe balk at new talks with Iran

'Not much to talk about,' Rice says as nuclear standoff simmers

RELATED

QUICKVOTE

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS