Obama to call on Iran urgently to embrace nuclear talks

SEOUL – US President Barack Obama will Monday stress the “urgency” of Iran cooperating with an international effort to defuse the standoff over its nuclear programme, a White House official said.

President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak at the Blue House, the official presidential house, in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday. AP PHOTO/SUSAN WALSH

Obama will urge Iran to take seriously an effort by the permanent five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany to broker a solution to the impasse, in a major speech before a nuclear terrorism summit in South Korea.

“He will link our commitment to non-proliferation and disarmament to our efforts to enforce international rules of the road,” the official said.

“He will underscore in particular the urgency of Iran seizing this opportunity to pursue a diplomatic solution regarding its nuclear programme in talks with the P5+1.”

The official said Obama would also review the progress made on his nuclear agenda since an ambitious speech in April 2009 in Prague, in which he foresaw the eventual eradication of atomic weapons.

Obama will also review progress made in depriving terrorists of radioactive material, which can be used to make “dirty” bombs, in his speech at Hankuk University in Seoul.