VOA标准英语2009年-US, Russia: No New Sanctions on Iran Yet

By Jessica Golloher
Moscow
13 October 2009

 
Russia's Pres. Dmitry Medvedev and FM Sergei Lavrov meet with US Sec. of State Hillary Clinton at Barvikha, outside Moscow, 13 Oct 2009
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart held talks in Moscow Tuesday, but the two sides played down any potential disagreements over how to respond to Iran's nuclear program.

Clinton met early Tuesday with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who said that under the current circumstances even the threat of sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program would be counterproductive.

Secretary of State Clinton said the United States agreed with Russia it was important to pursue diplomacy¹ toward Iran. She said it was not yet time for additional sanctions but the United States continued to believe such a step might be needed if diplomacy fails.

"We believe that Iran is entitled to peaceful nuclear energy but that it is not entitled to nuclear weapons. Russia agrees with us on that," she said. "At the same time that we are very vigorously pursuing this [sanctions] track, we are aware that we might not be as successful as we need to be so we have always looked at the potential of sanctions in the event that we are not successful, that we cannot assure ourselves and others that Iran has decided² not to pursue nuclear weapons," she continued.

 
Iranian technicians work at a facility near Isfahan, south of Tehran, that produces uranium fuel for a heavy-water nuclear reactor³ (File)
Iran, which recently agreed to let nuclear inspectors⁴ into a newly revealed facility, has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. The United States, which wants assurances that Iran is not secretly trying to build a nuclear weapon, has been trying to line up support for potential new sanctions.

Foreign Minister Lavrov says Secretary Clinton did not try to win agreement on any new sanctions on Iran during Tuesday's talks. He said the two countries want to resolve all issues connected with Iran's nuclear program. And he said Iran should be able to take advantage of all the opportunities in peaceful nuclear power engineering as long as the principal of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons is adhered to.

Secretary Clinton, who is due to leave Russia on Thursday, praised the cooperation between the two countries on other issues, including the renegotiation of the current Strategic Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty which expires in December. Both sides said considerable progress had been achieved on the issue.

 

1 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

4 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》