N. Korea Crisis Hurts Unity on Iran Nukes

Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, speaks with the media during a press conference at the conclusion of Iraq's neighbors meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, July 9, 2006. Iran warned the Group of Eight Sunday against making any decisions on Iran's nuclear program without consulting it first, arguing that this could harm Tehran's talks with the European Union. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) (Vahid Salemi - AP)

As they did previously for Iran, both Moscow and Beijing suggest that pushing for sanctions quickly against North Korea could inflame tensions. And a sharp dispute over how to deal with Pyongyang could in turn exacerbate the differences over Iran.

Even before the North Korean crisis, Washington was frustrated with the slow pace of multinational diplomacy on Iran.

A second U.N. diplomat told AP that the Americans considered Thursday's informal meeting between European Union envoy Javier Solana and Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani a flop that failed to advance the six-nation effort to get Tehran to freeze uranium enrichment and start negotiations on its nuclear program.

Revealing his impatience, President Bush said Friday that diplomacy is "kind of painful in a way for some to watch because it takes a while to get people on the same page."

A European official said that while the Americans remained interested in a negotiated solution to the Iran issue, including joining in multilateral talks, "the negotiating mode is suddenly less valued" in Washington because of the unexpected North Korean developments.

And with the North Korean crisis now suddenly also on the G-8 agenda, some diplomats said Iran could be moved to the back burner, just days after being the main international focus of concern.

Iran's government warned Sunday that the G-8 nations should not make any decisions on its nuclear program without consulting it first.

"Any summit decision on Iran _ if premature and incomplete _ could harm the current positive trend of negotiations," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, referring to talks with the European Union about the incentives package.