Source: http://www.usunnewyork.usmission.gov/06_074.htm http://www.usunnewyork.usmission.gov/06_074.htm
Date: April 12, 2006
United States Mission to the United Nations
USUN PRESS RELEASE # 74 (06)   
April 12, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	 	 
Remarks by Ambassador Bolton on Iran and other matters at the Security Council Stakeout, April 12, 2006
Ambassador Bolton: Hi, so we had discussion of a number of issues, including Iran, where we just touched base on what had happened.
Reporter:  Did you talk about introducing another resolution?  Are you now moving to chapter 7?  Is there reason to wait until the 30th now?
Ambassador Bolton:  No it was just a short sort of status discussion.  
Reporter: What is the U.S. position on chapter 7? Moving ahead on the resolution, still wait until the 30th? The 28th? 
Ambassador Bolton: Well I think we’ve got Dr. El Baradei in Tehran and I think we would like to see what results from that would be.
Reporter:  Is there any consensus about a response to Iran’s announcement yesterday?
Ambassador Bolton:  Well I think we were all concerned about it but I think different governments have expressed their views on it and I don’t have anything really new to say here at this point. 
Reporter: You don’t expect any Security Council action then before you see Mr. El Baradei report at the end of the month?
Ambassador Bolton:  I don’t know that there will be, I don’t know that there won’t be.  I just think at this point, we are still absorbing the negative consequences of the Iranian announcement yesterday. 
Reporter:  What are the negative consequences?  That they have been converted into a greater willingness to apply pressure by the Council?   
Ambassador Bolton:  Well they have stepped ahead in the enrichment effort, which is decidedly a negative development.  And it is something I think the Council will have to treat very seriously because it is obviously ignoring what the Council asked them to do, going in exactly the opposite direction. 
Reporter:  And did you get any indication from the other members of the P5 that they do take this quite seriously?
Ambassador Bolton:  Of course they take it seriously.  The question of what precisely we do is something we have got to consult with our capitals about.  And you know, this is something Ministers have talked about before and I would describe this, it is a lawyer’s term, but I would describe what we did today as a status call.  We just acknowledged what happened and talked about it and we will see what happens next.  
Reporter:  (Inaudible) choosing the next Secretary General? 
Ambassador Bolton:  That is what the bulk of the discussion was about as a matter of fact.  
Reporter:  I don’t know if you just spoke about it, but could you give a sense in terms of perhaps cause to give hearings or some sort of briefings of regional groups or perspective candidates; are these ideas being discussed now?  
Ambassador Bolton:  Well we are talking about all different aspects of the Secretary General selection process and particularly the role of the Security Council under the Charter and the Perm 5.
Reporter: Did anyone come to any ideas proposed?  Any kind of tentative conclusions?   Any progress report? 
Ambassador Bolton:  No, as I said when I went in, this was a previously scheduled meeting.  We do this more regularly then we have before, which I think is a positive development.  And it is obviously an ongoing subject for us but we did not come today with a specific intention of making a decision but to continue to talk about the process.
Reporter: Ambassador, in light of events, might you consider asking Mr. El Baradei to expedite his report to the Security Council when he gets back from Tehran, in other words make it available sooner rather than later?
Ambassador Bolton: There is no prohibition on the IAEA reporting to the Security Council earlier. Obviously the announcement of yesterday is a significant adverse development. There is no question about that.
Reporter: But might you ask him to report sooner?
Ambassador Bolton: We haven’t made any decision on that.
Reporter: (Inaudible) Mr. El Baradei to come here, does that help your case, knowing that you’ll here that, and questions from other countries about what does he really feel?
Ambassador Bolton: Well we asked for a report to be submitted in thirty days. In light of the fact of the announcement yesterday and his visit to Tehran, we’ll try and evaluate it after his visit is over. But we haven’t made any decision on it.
Reporter: Do you think the Security Council will reach consensus once the report comes out since it took a while to reach consensus before? 
Ambassador Bolton: Well I just can’t answer that question. We’ll just see what happens. We’d certainly like to keep the Council together to keep the pressure on Iran to reverse its decision to pursue nuclear weapons. No question about that.
Reporter: (Inaudible)
Ambassador Bolton: No, this was a status discussion, sort of what the state of play was. OK? Thanks a lot.