Iran was last night urged by America to learn the lessons of constructive diplomacy following the successful conclusion of an international deal to end North Korea's nuclear programme.
Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State, told reporters in Washington: "Why should it not be seen as a message to Iran that the international community is able to bring together its resources, particularly when regionally affected states work together and that the strong diplomacy. . . has finally achieved results?"
Iran, currently engaged in a war of words with America over allegations it supplied weapons to insurgents in Iraq, has steadfastly refused to bow to international pressure to give up its nuclear ambitions.
Yesterday in Beijing, more than three years of difficult talks between North Korea, South Korea, Russia, China, Japan and America were concluded and came just four months after Pyongyang shocked the world by testing a nuclear bomb.
While some details still have to be worked out, the deal means North Korea will close its main nuclear reactor in return for fuel aid.
In addition, the US and Japan have agreed to begin talks on building ties with the Communist state, once labelled by George W Bush as part of the "axis of evil".
Last night, the White House appeared cautiously optimistic, describing the agreement as "a very important first step" toward ending all of Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities. The US president said the talks represented "the best opportunity to use diplomacy to address North Korea's nuclear programmes".
Officials from the Communist state did not formally comment but its government-run media said the talks were held in a "sincere atmosphere" and were aimed at finding ways to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons.
Chun Yung-woo, South Korea's Assistant Foreign Minister, hailed the deal as "a new milestone in denuclearising the Korean peninsula".
The agreement involves North Korea closing its main Yongbyon nuclear reactor and allowing UN inspectors back into the country within 60 days.
In return, it will receive initial aid equal to 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil.
However, key issues still remain to be resolved, most notably removing Pyongyang's current nuclear stockpile.
Full compliance by North Korea would bring it 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil worth around £150m and other aid plus talks on normalising relations with Washington, removing it from its designation as a terror-sponsoring state and ending US trade sanctions.
"If they don't abide by the terms," warned Tony Snow, White House Press Secretary, "they don't get the benefits they desire."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article