Iran Threatens to Start Uranium Enrichment

Published: 3/5/06, 9:06 AM EDT
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran warned Sunday it will start large-scale uranium enrichment if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council because of international concerns over its nuclear program.

The International Atomic Energy Agency will meet in Vienna, Austria, on Monday to discuss Iran's nuclear program and decide whether to refer the issue to the Security Council, which has the power to impose economic and political sanctions on the Islamic republic.

Iran maintains its program is for generating electricity, but the United States and other Western nations fear Tehran is trying to build a bomb.

"If Iran's nuclear dossier is referred to the U.N. Security Council, (large-scale) uranium enrichment will be resumed," Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, told a news conference.

"If they (the U.S. and its allies) want to use force, we will pursue our own path."

Iran has only an experimental research program and it would need months to begin any large-scale enrichment.

"Research and development won't stop, but we are ready to agree to a timetable on (large-scale uranium) enrichment," Larijani said. "This is the final proposal from Iran to find a solution."

Larijani also said Iran would not abandon nuclear research or back down from pursuing a peaceful nuclear program if the country was referred to the Security Council.

"Nuclear research and development is part of Iran's national interests and sovereignty and won't give it up," he said.

Larijani said Iran will not stop the research-scale uranium enrichment it began last month amid diplomatic efforts aimed at a possible compromise in negotiations with Russia and European nations.

"(Nuclear) research and development will continue. We don't see any reason to suspend it ... We are seeking to establish this technology at home," he said. "We have made good progress in nuclear research."

The United States and its allies should show "their good will," and "accept industrial scale (uranium enrichment) by Iran, accept nuclear research and development. Then, if they have any concerns, we will be ready to show flexibility in short term."

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

Earlier, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran could reach a nuclear agreement with Russia or Europe within the next few hours.

Asefi said such a deal would be called off if Iran was referred to the Security Council, and he added that the Russian proposal to enrich Iranian nuclear fuel needed more discussion.

"Both an agreement, and its absence, is possible. Nothing is definite," he said.

On Thursday, Iran and Russia held talks to establish a joint uranium enrichment venture to ease concerns over its nuclear ambitions. Russia has offered to host the enrichment of uranium for Iran, a proposal supported by the United States as a way to ease concerns that Iran could divert the material for weapons.

However, further negotiations on the details did not produce a clear-cut decision as Iran did not entirely give up plans for domestic enrichment - a key Western demand.

Asefi said the IAEA meeting "will be a big test for the agency to show how it will defend its members. What it is going to do, will be a basis for judgment by the world. We do advise the agency to work in a professional and nonpolitical direction."

Enrichment is a key process that can determine the direction of a nuclear program. Uranium enriched to a low level produces fuel for a nuclear reactor, while higher enrichment produces the material needed for a warhead.

Asefi also criticized what he described as the double standard in U.S. nuclear policy, citing Washington's recent deal with India as an example.

Washington and New Delhi signed an accord last week separating India's nuclear industry into military and civilian enterprises and opening the latter to international inspections for the first time.

"The United States' approach is a form of double standards. It signed a contract with a country that was not a member of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. That is objectionable," he told a news briefing.

"On the other hand, it approaches Iran in such a (bad) way."
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