US President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin have decided to stick to "a united position" in the Iranian nuclear crisis, the White House said.
The two leaders, in a 17-minute telephone conversation on Monday, "agreed on the need to maintain a united position in pressuring Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons program," said Bush spokesman Tony Snow.
On Iran "the importance was stressed of the need to continue consultations, the main criteria of which should be the aim of fulfilling non-proliferation tasks," the statement said.
Meanwhile, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei stated that there is still enough time for serious talks with Iran on its nuclear issue. The IAEA chief made the remark in an interview with the Italian daily, L'Unita, which was published on Monday.
"Iran is not a future threat, therefore there is no need to impose sanctions against it," he added.
The United Nations watchdog chief said that political talks is the only way to solve discords with Iran and expressed joy over the measures being taken by the European Union to this end, given that the US intends to participate in the negotiations.
"Therefore, I consider adding Italy to the so called 5+1 group as a significant measure. The important point is that Iran is not taken as an threat in near future. Thus there is still enough time to prepare a complete, organized and comprehensive package of proposals.
"It is important that the European Union and US get united, given that this is the only way to advance the relevant talks," he added.
