Iran nuclear stance defies bid for deal: EU leaders

By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) – European leaders warned Iran on
Wednesday not to pursue work on machines able to make enriched
uranium fuel for nuclear bombs, saying such moves defied
efforts to ease an international crisis over Tehran’s atomic
program.

Iran has cold-shouldered an offer by the “EU3″ powers —
Britain, France and Germany — to resume dialogue this month
based on Russia’s proposal to purify Iranian uranium as a joint
venture to minimize the risk of bomb-making by Tehran.

The Islamic republic says its nuclear project aims only to
produce electricity, not weapons as the West suspects.

But it hid nuclear work from U.N. inspectors for 18 years
until 2003 and its president has called for Israel to be “wiped
off the map,” raising Western alarm about its intentions.

EU3 diplomats objected particularly to a signal from Iran’s
chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani that it would press ahead
with research on centrifuges, which can enrich uranium both for
nuclear-plant or bomb fuel by spinning at supersonic speeds.

“Comments and conditions such as those made by Dr Larijani
seem aimed at prejudging these discussions (dialogue) and
preventing the possibility of finding a basis for
negotiations,” Britain’s Foreign Office said in a statement
issued in London.

Such research “would not only go against the commitments
made to the EU3 but also the demands of the IAEA board of
governors,” one EU3 diplomat said, referring to the U.N.
nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy
Agency.

“If Larijani wants to prejudge discussions or prevent the
ability to find a basis for discussions, then that’s it,” he
said, meaning that talks would be deemed useless and referral
to the Security Council for possible sanctions would be
inevitable.

Diplomats said earlier the EU3 planned a joint declaration
voicing dismay with Iran’s stance, but after some debate it was
decided that individual statements would suffice for now.

“By their statements and conditions they set, the Iranian
authorities risk compromising the possibility of finding a
basis on which to resume negotiations,” French Foreign Ministry
spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said in Paris on Wednesday.

IRAN STANDS FIRM

Tehran has not rejected Moscow’s idea outright but said it
is open only to deals preserving its right to enrich uranium at
home and suggested it could win any showdown in the Security
Council, where Russia and China could block punitive sanctions.

In September the 35-nation IAEA board declared Iran in
non-compliance with safeguards clauses of the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Tehran has signed.

The NPT guarantees member states the right to develop a
full nuclear fuel cycle but bans making weapons in the process.

Washington and the EU3 demanded a follow-up vote to send
Iran to the Security Council. However, the IAEA board, its
hands tied by resistance from Moscow and developing nations,
opted last month to give time for diplomacy on the Russian
proposal.

Analysts and some diplomats caution that turning Iran’s
case over to the Security Council could prove a hollow threat,
given big-power divisions, legal issues and energy importers’
anxiety not to disrupt oil and gas exports from OPEC giant
Iran.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei told the Arabic daily al-Hayat
on Wednesday that international patience toward Iran was waning
but military intervention, a last-ditch option mooted by the
United States and Israel, was unrealistic.

“I hope no one is thinking of (it) because it will lead to
the opposite — aggravating the situation greatly,” he said.

Larijani said on Monday Iran’s nuclear research was
peaceful and non-negotiable, adding: “Iran is not like Iraq or
any other country. Iran is not an easy target to be threatened
by Israel or others. We do not consider such threats serious.”

The British-American Security Information Council think
tank said in a report on Tuesday that while a nuclear-armed
Iran would be “dangerous and destabilizing,” warnings about
Security Council action lacked credibility.

As a solution, it suggested the West permit limited nuclear
fuel production by Iran, possibly including low-enriched
uranium — suitable to power most nuclear plants but not to
make bombs.

Iran, in turn, should stop building a heavy water reactor
at Arak which could yield plutonium, the key alternative
ingredient in atomic bombs, the think tank said.

(Additional reporting by Lou Charbonneau in Berlin,
Madeline Chambers in London, Jon Boyle in Paris, Paul Hughes in
Tehran and Mohammed Abbas in Cairo)