Iran says UN council risks worsening dispute

By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iran warned the U.N. Security
Council on Sunday that it risked worsening a dispute over the
country’s nuclear development by pressuring it to halt
uranium-enrichment work.

In a move that could raise further concerns about the
country’s military development, a senior Iranian navy commander
said Iran had test-fired a sonar-evading underwater missile
that can outpace any enemy warship.

Speaking on CNN’s “Late Edition,” Aliasghar Soltaniyeh,
Iran’s ambassador to the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy
Agency, said the Security Council’s adoption last week of a
statement calling on Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment
work was “hasty” and that it should stay out of the process.

“The best action of United Nations Security Council is no
action, merely just to take note of the documents which have
been sent to United Nations Security Council, and let the IAEA
to do its own job,” Soltaniyeh said.

“The more the United Nations Security Council is engaged
and involved, the situation will be further deteriorated. And
we have to prevent confrontation,” he said.

The council called on Iran to comply with resolutions of
the IAEA, including a suspension of enrichment-related
activities, which can provide fuel for power plants or atom
bombs. It asked the watchdog to report back in 30 days.

Iran’s decision to resume uranium enrichment in January
prompted Britain, France and Germany to break off 2-1/2 years
of EU talks with Tehran and back a U.S. demand to refer Iran to
the Security Council.

Western nations have also been watching developments in
Iran’s missile capabilities with concern amid the standoff over
the nuclear program, which the West says is aimed at building
atomic bombs. Iran says the program is for peaceful, civilian
purposes.

MISSILE TEST

Sunday’s announcement of the underwater missile test, part
of a week of war games in the Gulf and Sea of Oman, is likely
to add to Western worries.

“This missile evades sonar technology under the water and
even if the enemy sonar system could detect its movement under
the water, no warship could escape from it because of its high
velocity,” Revolutionary Guards Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said.

Diplomats in Europe said this month that Iran was stepping
up development of missiles capable of carrying atomic warheads,
but Iran denied the charge and Soltaniyeh said on Sunday that
the latest test should not worry the world.

Soltaniyeh said Iran would not withdraw from the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty and would keep cooperating with the
world body’s nuclear watchdog, adding that a team from the
Vienna-based nuclear body would visit Iran next week.

He said the nuclear issue been taken “hostage” by U.S.
policy and should be brought back to a “multilateral
atmosphere.”

John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations,
told a news conference in Doha that the Security Council action
would strengthen the IAEA’s hand.

“We think it is important to increase international
pressure on Iran to get them to rethink the policy of seeking
to acquire nuclear weapons and thereby try and bring a peaceful
and diplomatic solution to this problem,” Bolton said.

Washington is pushing for the Security Council to impose
sanctions on Iran if it does not halt enrichment, but fellow
permanent council members China and Russia are reluctant to
take that step.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated that the
United States remains committed to a diplomatic solution.

“I just want to be very clear, Iran is not Iraq,” she said
in an interview with Britain’s ITV aired on Sunday.

“However, the president of the United States doesn’t take
his options off the table; we are committed to a diplomatic
course because we believe that a diplomatic course can work.”