Chinese language - Iran defiant as IAEA prepares to meet

WORLD / IAEA

Iran defiant as IAEA prepares to meet
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-06 08:39

Iran threatened Sunday to embark on full-scale uranium enrichment if the
UN nuclear watchdog presses for action over its nuclear program, and the
American ambassador to the United Nations warned of the possibility of
"painful consequences" for Iran.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani answers a question from the
media during a news conference in Tehran, on Sunday March 5, 2006. Iran
warned Sunday that it will start large-scale uranium enrichment if it is
referred to the UN Security Council. [AP]

The comments came as the International Atomic Energy Agency's board
prepared to meet Monday to discuss referring Iran to the UN Security
Council, but delegates said whatever step the council might take would
stop far short of sanctions.

John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday there
was an urgent need to confront Iran's "clear and unrelenting drive" for
nuclear weapons.

Iran "must be made aware that if it continues down the path of
international isolation, there will be tangible and painful
consequences," Bolton told the conference of the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee.

But Iran's government cautioned that putting the issue before the
Security Council would hurt efforts to resolve the dispute diplomatically.

"If Iran's nuclear dossier is referred to the UN Security Council,
(large-scale) uranium enrichment will be resumed," Iran's top negotiator,
Ali Larijani, told reporters in Tehran. "If they want to use force, we
will pursue our own path."

He said Iran had exhausted "all peaceful ways" and that if demands were
made contrary to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the nation "will
resist."

Larijani said Iran will not abandon nuclear research, or back down from
pursuing an atomic program that Tehran insists has the sole purpose of
generating electricity with nuclear reactors.

IAEA delegates suggested the U.N. agency's board will not push for
confrontation with Iran and said any initial decisions by the Security
Council based on the outcome of the meeting will be mild.

They said the most likely action from the council would be a statement
urging Iran to resume its freeze on uranium enrichment �� an activity
that can make both reactor fuel and the core of nuclear warheads �� and
to increase cooperation with the IAEA's probe of the Iranian program.

Even such a mild step could be weeks down the road.

Still, it would formally begin council involvement with Iran's nuclear
file, starting a process that could escalate and culminate with political
and economic sanctions �� although such action for now is opposed by
Russia and China, which can veto Security Council actions.

Bolton said a failure by the Security Council to address Iran would "do
lasting damage to the credibility of the council."

"The longer we wait to confront the threat Iran poses," Bolton said, "the
harder and more intractable it will become to solve."

Russia and China share the concerns of the United States, France and
Britain �� the three other permanent council members with veto power ��
that Iran could misuse enrichment for an arms program.

But both have economic and strategic ties with Tehran. While they voted
with the majority of IAEA board members at a Feb. 4 meeting to alert the
council to suspicions about Iran's nuclear aims, they insisted the
council do nothing until after this week's IAEA meeting in Vienna.

Russia is unlikely to agree to strong action while it negotiates with
Iran on a plan that would move Tehran's enrichment program to Russian
territory as a way of increasing international monitoring and reducing
the chances for misuse in arms work.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is due in Washington and New York
this week to discuss the status of those talks with Bush administration
officials and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Both Tehran and Moscow have said new talks are planned; diplomats in
Vienna, who demanded anonymity in return for discussing the situation,
said no dates had been set.

In Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran could
reach an agreement with Russia or the European Union within hours, but
did not elaborate. Iran rejected an EU proposal last fall to end
enrichment in return for the West providing reactor fuel and economic aid.

Past IAEA board meetings have ended with resolutions taking Iran to task
for hindering investigations into a nuclear program that was kept secret
for nearly 18 years and more recently urging it to reimpose a freeze on
enrichment.

The Feb. 4 resolution asked IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei to report those
concerns and others to the Security Council and to formally hand over the
complete Iran file to the council. It also asked him to provide the
council with his latest report, drawn up for Monday's IAEA meeting.

That report, made available to The Associated Press last week, said Iran
appeared determined to expand uranium enrichment, planning to start
setting up thousands of uranium-enriching centrifuges this year.

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