2006年VOA标准英语-Lavrov Denies Russian Nuclear Compromise O

By David Gollust
State Department
07 March 2006

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow has made no compromise offer to deal with Iran's nuclear program. He spoke¹ after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dominated by the Iranian nuclear issue, which is now before the International Atomic Energy Agency governing board in Vienna.

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The Russian Foreign Minister came to Washington amid press reports that Moscow had made a compromise offer to Iran that would allow it to continue some small-scale uranium enrichment activity, which the United States strongly opposes.

 

 
Sergei Lavrov, left, during joint² news conference with Condoleezza Rice, March 7, 2006 at State Department in Washington 
  

But at a joint press appearance with Secretary Rice, Lavrov appeared to completely dismiss the notion of a policy rift³ with Washington over Iran, saying flatly there was no compromise proposal and that there would not be one:

"There is no compromise new Russian proposal," he said.  "All our contacts with Iran, with the European troika, with the United States, with China and with others including the director-general of the IAEA, were about finding a way to implement⁴ the February decision by the board of governors of the IAEA It is only in that context that our well-known suggestion to have a joint venture to enrich uranium on Russian territory to provide for the fuel needs of Iran was made."

Press accounts from the IAEA Vienna meeting Monday indicated that in the context of its uranium enrichment plan, Russia had proposed that Iran be allowed to continue a small-scale enrichment project for research purposes.

Those reports triggered a sharp response from the Bush administration, which said even a small enrichment program would allow Iran to master techniques needed to build a nuclear weapon.

In her comments with Lavrov, Secretary Rice said any scenario⁵ for a resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue would require Iran to return to the enrichment freeze it committed to in 2004 with Britain, France and Germany but reneged on last year:

"I think the United States has been very clear that enrichment and reprocessing on Iranian soil is not acceptable because of the proliferation risk," Rice said. "And I will let the minister speak for himself, but the Russians did not tell us of any new proposal they have made the Iranians concerning anything but the February 4th (IAEA) resolution. We still hope that this can be resolved through negotiations⁶, through the IAEA. But it is going to require the Iranians to suspend their activities, to reenter the moratorium⁷, and to do a number of other steps, which are outlined in that February 4th resolution."

The IAEA board in February found Iran to be in violation⁸ of its non-proliferation commitments and agreed in principle to refer the issue to the Security Council.

The United States, which contends that Iran - despite its denials - has a secret nuclear weapons program, has long sought a U.N. referral. However, in her remarks with her Russian counterpart, the secretary again was non-committal about possible punitive⁹ action against Iran in the Security Council.

She said there is still time for Tehran to avoid such a move, and again stressed U.S. support for the Russian offer, under which Moscow would furnish the fuel for Iranian civilian¹⁰ power plants, and take it back for reprocessing afterwards.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

4 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

5 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

6 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

7 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

8 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

9 punitive   

adj.惩罚的，刑罚的

参考例句：

• They took punitive measures against the whole gang.他们对整帮人采取惩罚性措施。
• The punitive tariff was imposed to discourage tire imports from China.该惩罚性关税的征收是用以限制中国轮胎进口的措施。

10 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。