01 June 2007
Foreign ministers from the ‘Group of Eight’ countries (G8) have condemned the Iranian government’s threats against Israel and denial of the Holocaust. In a statement, foreign ministers of the eight leading industrial nations also said they were prepared to back ‘appropriate measures’ if Iran failed to stop uranium enrichment. The statement says: "We deeply regret that Iran, as seen in the latest report by the director general of the IAEA to the UN Security Council, has further expanded its enrichment activities.” The ministers said they were ‘deeply concerned’ by Iran’s nuclear activities and expressed their ‘shared duty’ to find a solution to the conflict with Tehran.
The G8 ministerial meeting was held to prepare for next week’s summit hosted by the current G8 chair, Germany, in a resort on the Baltic coast. The leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States will attend the summit. Russia has previously resisted urging from the West to increase pressure on Tehran to open its civilian nuclear program to closer scrutiny. However, Russia’s close cooperation with Iran’s civilian nuclear program has weakened in recent months amid differences over financing which have caused a delay in the construction of Iran’s first nuclear power station.
