Powell: Time To Refer Iran Nuclear Matter To UN Council
[Excerpt]October 21, 2004
The Associated Press
Dow Jones Newswires
Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday that the the issue of Iran 's nuclear program needs to now be referred to the U.N. Security Council. In an interview with Abu Dhabi television, Powell said "it is time for the matter to be referred to the Security Council unless there is a complete change in attitude on the part of the Iranians, and they come into compliance with their obligation under IAEA strictures, and also in compliance with the commitments they made to the European Union."
However, Iran is unlikely to accept European incentives aimed at getting it to suspend uranium enrichment, diplomats said Thursday in Vienna, raising the prospect of a showdown next month between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog.
Envoys from the U.K., France and Germany offered civilian nuclear technology and a trade deal to the Iranians in a private meeting at the French mission to international organizations in Vienna. But Western diplomats said they doubt Iran will back down easily.
Iran didn't immediately respond to the incentives, which included the promise of lucrative trade, a light-water nuclear research reactor and the chance to buy nuclear fuel from the West.
An Iranian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday's meeting did not involve detailed negotiations, merely the formal presentation of the European offer.
Amir-Hossein Zamaniyan, director-general of international affairs for Iran 's Foreign Ministry, would take the proposal back to his government for study, the diplomat said.
The offer came a day after President Mohammad Khatami said Iran wouldn't give up uranium enrichment, which can be used both to generate electricity or build a nuclear weapon.
U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday the question is whether or not Iran intends to comply with IAEA requirements.
"Unfortunately, history would lead us to think that the answer's going to be 'no,"' Boucher said during the department's regular briefing.
Iran insists its nuclear activities are peaceful and geared solely toward generating electric power. The U.S. contends it is running a covert atomic weapons program.
On Nov. 25, the Vienna-based IAEA's 35-nation board of governors will deliver a fresh assessment of Iran 's cooperation with the nuclear agency. The U.S. is pressing to report Iran 's noncompliance to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions.
Iran is unlikely to cave in quickly to demands that it suspend enrichment, a Western diplomat familiar with the nuclear agency's dealings with Tehran told The Associated Press. The official was not directly involved in Thursday's meeting.
Although the IAEA had no hand in the European offer, agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei has said he welcomes any attempt to negotiate an end to the standoff - so long as Iran consents to continued comprehensive inspections that can verify it does not pose a nuclear proliferation threat.
The Bush administration - which labeled Iran part of an "axis of evil" along with North Korea and Iraq when it was still ruled by Saddam Hussein - said this week it did not endorse the European allies' plan.
The U.K. and German foreign ministers have urged Iran to suspend its nuclear program indefinitely. Iran has resumed testing, assembling and making centrifuges used to enrich uranium, heightening U.S. concerns that its sole purpose is to build a bomb.
Iran 's long-range ballistic missile capabilities, combined with its nuclear know-how, pose a threat not only to Israel but to Europe, Israeli President Moshe Katsav said Thursday in Vienna.
"Why does Iran need rockets with a range of 3,000 kilometers? Why is Iran investing money in the development of weapons of mass destruction?" Katsav said during the first visit to Austria by an Israeli head of state.
If Tehran does not accept the European incentives, suspend enrichment and agree to IAEA verification that it has done so, the U.K., France and Germany likely would back the U.S. push to report its defiance to the Security Council, diplomats said. ...