Tempers flare over Iran nuke program

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Diplomats still are talking about a bad-tempered dinner at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel last week at which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, traded barbs over Iran's nuclear program.

The spat reflected deepening rifts between the United States and Russia and reduced the chances for big-power cooperation on the Iran crisis.

The tension first surfaced at a private meeting hosted by Miss Rice at a suite in the hotel for the Russian, British, French, German and Chinese foreign ministers, and spilled over into a delayed dinner.

"It was a pretty extraordinary session, and everyone's been talking about it in private since," said one official in Washington.

"It was certainly quite an introduction to the rough and tumble of the new job" for Margaret Beckett, who attended the session on her first full day as Britain's foreign secretary.

Mr. Lavrov arrived at the Waldorf for the meeting seething about a speech on Kremlin policies delivered by Vice President Dick Cheney the previous week in Lithuania.

During the May 4 speech in Vilnius, Mr. Cheney accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of restricting the rights of citizens and said "no legitimate interest is served" by turning energy resources into implements of blackmail.

Mr. Lavrov repeatedly complained about the comments during the Waldorf meeting, and then threatened to veto a Security Council resolution -- drafted by Britain and France and backed by the United States -- that would legally oblige Iran to abandon the enrichment of uranium.

Although Moscow has made clear that it opposes any use of mandatory powers in a U.N. resolution, the other ministers were left in no doubt that Mr. Lavrov's approach reflected fury over Mr. Cheney's speech.

As the mood worsened, Mr. Lavrov accused the Americans of seeking to undermine efforts by Britain, France and Germany to resolve the crisis.