UN demands Iran stop uranium enrichment work

By Evelyn Leopold and Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council
demanded on Wednesday that Iran suspend uranium enrichment
efforts that the West suspects are part of a secret nuclear
weapons program.

But Iran remained defiant, saying that it was not seeking
an atomic bomb and regardless of assurances, the United States
and others would find new reasons to fault Tehran.

“Threats do not work with Iran. Iran is allergic to
pressure,” Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Javad Zarif, told a news
conference. “Iran’s commitment to the nonproliferation regime,
to nonproliferation, is categorical.”

The statement, which needed the approval of all 15 council
members, was read at a public meeting after the five permanent
veto-holding council powers agreed on a text following three
weeks of arduous negotiations.

The United States, Britain and France made significant
concessions to Russia and China, which were anxious to avoid
language that might later be used to press for sanctions or
military action against Iran.

Still, Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Andrei Denisov, told
reporters: “For the time being, we have suspicions — very
strong ones, but suspicions — on intentions. On intentions we
also have some evidence but it is only intentions.”

The council called on Iran to comply with resolutions of
the International Atomic Energy Agency board, including a
suspension of “enrichment-related activities.”

Iran restarted work at its uranium enrichment plant in
Natanz earlier this year, but insists its aim is to develop
nuclear energy rather than weapons. Highly enriched uranium is
used to make nuclear bombs.

The council also asked Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA’s
director-general, to report back in 30 days on Iran’s progress.

The statement, which does not threaten punitive measures,
was adopted on the eve of a high-level meeting on Iran in
Berlin. It was the council’s first action to pressure Iran into
explaining and disclosing all its nuclear programs.

‘FIRST MAJOR STEP’

“It sends an unmistakable message to Iran that its efforts
to deny the obvious fact of what it is doing are not going to
be sufficient,” U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters.

He called the statement the “first major step in this
council to deal with Iran’s nearly 20-year-old clandestine
nuclear weapons program.”

“I hope the people of Iran get a chance to read this
message too, so they can consider what dangers their government
is putting them into,” Bolton said.

Ambassadors of the five council members said they reached
agreement only after a provision stating that the council was
responsible for international peace and security was removed at
Russia’s insistence.

Russia and China both feared such a statement, although it
is in the U.N. Charter, could later be used as a legal basis
for harsh measures.

Criticizing their stance, Bolton said even if they did not
want to quote from the U.N. Charter, “the message is clear
nonetheless that Iran’s nuclear weapons program is
unacceptable.”

The West has refused to rule out sanctions if Iran does not
comply and U.S. officials have said that military action is an
option, although Britain and France have disavowed it.

“We are not talking about military action. We have said
from the outset — we, the Europeans — that we wanted a
gradual, incremental and reversible outcome,” said France’s
U.N. ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere.

The IAEA reported the Iranian issue to the council on March
8 after Tehran resumed nuclear fuel work. This prompted
European negotiators — Germany, France and Britain — to break
off 2-1/2 years of negotiations.

Now that the statement is adopted, the next step will be
even more difficult. Division among the five powers does not
bode well in developing a unified strategy when their foreign
ministers and their German counterpart meet in Berlin on
Thursday.

Before leaving for Europe, U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice issued a statement, saying “Iran is more
isolated now than ever.”

She said the Security Council sent “an unmistakable message
to Iran that its efforts to conceal its nuclear program and
evade its international obligations are unacceptable.”

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
again that “any idea of resolve the matter by compulsion and
force are extremely counterproductive.”

(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau in Berlin and
Sue Pleming in Washington)