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04-28-2006, 03:50 PM
VIENNA, Austria - Iran "won't give a damn" about any U.N. resolutions concerning its nuclear program, its president said Friday, hours before an expected finding that Tehran has failed to meet a Security Council deadline to suspend uranium enrichment.
The anticipated finding by U.N. nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei will set the stage for a confrontation at the Security Council.
If Iran does not comply, the council is likely to consider punitive measures against the Islamic republic. While Russia and China have been reluctant to endorse sanctions, the council's three other veto-wielding members say a strong response is in order.
The United States, France and Britain say that if Tehran does not meet the deadline, they will make the enrichment demand and other conditions compulsory and they want punitive measures to stay on the table.
But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said no Security Council resolution could make Iran give up its nuclear program.
"The Iranian nation won't give a damn about such useless resolutions," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in Khorramdareh in northwestern Iran.
"Today, they want to force us to give up our way through threats and sanctions but those who resort to language of coercion should know that nuclear energy is a national demand and by the grace of God, today Iran is a nuclear country," state-run television quoted him as saying.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice won broad support from NATO allies for a tough diplomatic line on Iran if Tehran fails to comply.
However, NATO foreign ministers meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, did not offer any specific threat of sanctions against Iran, in part to avoid a rift with Russia and China.
"On Iran, there was unanimity," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told reporters. "Although the clear message to the Iranian authorities is one of firmness, we have to continue with the diplomatic path."
Rice said it was time for the Security Council to act if the world body wished to remain credible.
"The Security Council is the primary and most important institution for the maintenance of peace and stability and security and it cannot have its word and its will simply ignored by a member state," Rice said.
On Thursday, Iran's deputy nuclear chief, Mohammad Saeedi, met with Olli Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency's deputy director general in charge of Iran's nuclear file, handing over material on Tehran's nuclear program in a bid to stave off sanctions.
Diplomats, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss confidential details of the IAEA's Iran probe, said they had no details of what Saeedi had brought to the table.
Still, they characterized the meeting between Saeedi and Heinonen as unlikely to blunt the report's main finding: that Tehran has ignored council requests to suspend uranium enrichment.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton already has said he plans to introduce a resolution requiring Tehran to comply with the council's demand to stop its enrichment program. The resolution would not call for sanctions now, but it would be introduced under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows for sanctions and is militarily enforceable.
Iran's U.N. ambassador, Javad Zarif, said Tehran will refuse to comply with such a resolution because its activities are legal and peaceful. Enrichment can be used to generate fuel or make the fissile core of nuclear weapons.
"If the Security Council decides to take decisions that are not within its competence, then Iran does not feel obliged to obey," he said Thursday in New York.
He also said Tehran was prepared to return to discussions of the offer it made in negotiations with the Europeans last year if the international community agrees to "stop this nonsense, pressure tactic."
A Russian proposal to move Tehran's uranium enrichment to Russian territory "is still alive," he said, "and Iran is prepared to consider any proposal that will guarantee Iran's rights."
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, insisted the U.N. nuclear watchdog should continue to play a central role in the dispute. "It mustn't shrug this role from its shoulders and pass it on to the U.N. Security Council," Putin said.
But a top French diplomat laid out a starkly contrasting position reflecting U.S. and British views: The Security Council should not only have primacy in dealing with Iran but also should start considering how to increase the pressure. But, the diplomat said, a U.N. resolution would not automatically mean resorting to military action.
The Security Council adopted a statement a month ago giving Iran until Friday to suspend all activities linked to enrichment because it can be used to make the highly enriched uranium used in the core of nuclear warheads.
Instead of complying, Iran — which says it seeks the technology only to generate electric power — has upped the ante recently, announcing it had for the first time successfully enriched uranium and was doing research on advanced centrifuges that would let it produce more of the material in less time.
Western concern has grown since 2002 when Iran was found to be working on large-scale plans to enrich uranium.
While the IAEA has found no "smoking gun" proving Iran wants nuclear arms, a series of reports have revealed worrying clandestine activities — like plutonium processing — and documents, including drawings of how to mold weapons-grade uranium metal into the shape of a warhead.
Credit: Yahoo.
The anticipated finding by U.N. nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei will set the stage for a confrontation at the Security Council.
If Iran does not comply, the council is likely to consider punitive measures against the Islamic republic. While Russia and China have been reluctant to endorse sanctions, the council's three other veto-wielding members say a strong response is in order.
The United States, France and Britain say that if Tehran does not meet the deadline, they will make the enrichment demand and other conditions compulsory and they want punitive measures to stay on the table.
But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said no Security Council resolution could make Iran give up its nuclear program.
"The Iranian nation won't give a damn about such useless resolutions," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in Khorramdareh in northwestern Iran.
"Today, they want to force us to give up our way through threats and sanctions but those who resort to language of coercion should know that nuclear energy is a national demand and by the grace of God, today Iran is a nuclear country," state-run television quoted him as saying.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice won broad support from NATO allies for a tough diplomatic line on Iran if Tehran fails to comply.
However, NATO foreign ministers meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, did not offer any specific threat of sanctions against Iran, in part to avoid a rift with Russia and China.
"On Iran, there was unanimity," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told reporters. "Although the clear message to the Iranian authorities is one of firmness, we have to continue with the diplomatic path."
Rice said it was time for the Security Council to act if the world body wished to remain credible.
"The Security Council is the primary and most important institution for the maintenance of peace and stability and security and it cannot have its word and its will simply ignored by a member state," Rice said.
On Thursday, Iran's deputy nuclear chief, Mohammad Saeedi, met with Olli Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency's deputy director general in charge of Iran's nuclear file, handing over material on Tehran's nuclear program in a bid to stave off sanctions.
Diplomats, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss confidential details of the IAEA's Iran probe, said they had no details of what Saeedi had brought to the table.
Still, they characterized the meeting between Saeedi and Heinonen as unlikely to blunt the report's main finding: that Tehran has ignored council requests to suspend uranium enrichment.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton already has said he plans to introduce a resolution requiring Tehran to comply with the council's demand to stop its enrichment program. The resolution would not call for sanctions now, but it would be introduced under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows for sanctions and is militarily enforceable.
Iran's U.N. ambassador, Javad Zarif, said Tehran will refuse to comply with such a resolution because its activities are legal and peaceful. Enrichment can be used to generate fuel or make the fissile core of nuclear weapons.
"If the Security Council decides to take decisions that are not within its competence, then Iran does not feel obliged to obey," he said Thursday in New York.
He also said Tehran was prepared to return to discussions of the offer it made in negotiations with the Europeans last year if the international community agrees to "stop this nonsense, pressure tactic."
A Russian proposal to move Tehran's uranium enrichment to Russian territory "is still alive," he said, "and Iran is prepared to consider any proposal that will guarantee Iran's rights."
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, insisted the U.N. nuclear watchdog should continue to play a central role in the dispute. "It mustn't shrug this role from its shoulders and pass it on to the U.N. Security Council," Putin said.
But a top French diplomat laid out a starkly contrasting position reflecting U.S. and British views: The Security Council should not only have primacy in dealing with Iran but also should start considering how to increase the pressure. But, the diplomat said, a U.N. resolution would not automatically mean resorting to military action.
The Security Council adopted a statement a month ago giving Iran until Friday to suspend all activities linked to enrichment because it can be used to make the highly enriched uranium used in the core of nuclear warheads.
Instead of complying, Iran — which says it seeks the technology only to generate electric power — has upped the ante recently, announcing it had for the first time successfully enriched uranium and was doing research on advanced centrifuges that would let it produce more of the material in less time.
Western concern has grown since 2002 when Iran was found to be working on large-scale plans to enrich uranium.
While the IAEA has found no "smoking gun" proving Iran wants nuclear arms, a series of reports have revealed worrying clandestine activities — like plutonium processing — and documents, including drawings of how to mold weapons-grade uranium metal into the shape of a warhead.
Credit: Yahoo.