June 16, 2004
By Parisa Hafezi
Photo: Iranian President Mohammad Khatami answers a journalist's question after the cabinet meeting in Tehran June 16, 2004. Iran may resume uranium enrichment if a draft resolution rebuking it for lax cooperation with U.N. inspectors is approved, Iranian President Khatami said in his toughest warning yet to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). (Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters)
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran threatened on Wednesday to resume uranium enrichment if the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approves a draft resolution rebuking it for inadequate cooperation with U.N. inspectors.
"I am not saying we will do something particular, but if this resolution passes, Iran will have no moral commitment to suspend uranium enrichment," President Mohammad Khatami, in his toughest warning yet to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
But Khatami, aware that Washington wants Iran referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions, balanced his tough line with assurances that Iran's nuclear aims are peaceful and that Tehran has no intention of kicking out U.N. inspectors.
The United States accused Iran of trying to intimidate the IAEA. "What we're seeing here is a full court press of intimidation by the government of Iran and its delegation here," U.S. ambassador Kenneth Brill told reporters in Vienna, using a basketball metaphor.
Britain, France and Germany have drafted a resolution that "deplores" Iran's poor cooperation with U.N. inspectors, and the IAEA board of governors are discussing it in Vienna this week. The resolution has incensed Tehran.
In Brussels, the European Union urged Iran to comply fully with the IAEA. "Full compliance and cooperation with the IAEA are crucial" if Iran is to develop deeper ties with European and other partners, EU Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin said in a statement.
In Vienna, several diplomats of IAEA board member countries said the majority of the board back the draft resolution and it is unlikely that the text will be changed very much.
The draft will probably be submitted to the board for formal debate later on Wednesday, and the board could take a formal position on the text as early as Thursday, they said.
"Despite the threats from Iran, the Europeans are standing firm. This is typical brinkmanship on the part of Iran," a Western diplomat from an influential IAEA board member said.
Iran says it wants to produce low-grade enriched uranium to use as fuel in nuclear power reactors. But Washington and many European states fear Iran could use enrichment technology to produce highly-enriched, bomb-grade uranium.
Khatami said such fears were baseless.
"We have never intended to enrich uranium more than 3.5 percent and have no intention of using nuclear technology for military use," he said.
Hossein Mousavian, who heads Iran's delegation at the IAEA meeting, blamed Washington for the pressure being heaped on Tehran, saying the Americans "have put a lot of pressure in order to politicize the Iranian issue."
Iran, under pressure to come clean about its nuclear activities, worked out a deal with the European trio last October to voluntarily suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for peaceful nuclear technology.
To the Europeans' annoyance, Iran has never completely stopped enrichment related activities.
Iran says the resolution under discussion in Vienna has blown technical shortcomings out of proportion and is driven by Washington's political agenda against the Islamic Republic.
"The IAEA resolution is very bad ... (it) violates our country's rights," Khatami said. "If it passes, in the future we will have more problems with cooperating with the agency."
"Iran's nuclear row is political, and there is a political will behind it to stop us accessing peaceful nuclear technology," he said.
Diplomats in Vienna say Washington wanted a tougher resolution which would set a deadline for Iran to clear up remaining ambiguities about its nuclear program. Failure to do so would see Iran reported to the U.N. Security Council.
But Khatami ruled out following the calls of some hard-liners in the Islamic Republic for Iran to withdraw from the NPT, which would remove its nuclear program from the scrutiny of U.N. inspectors. "We are a member of the NPT and we will continue to be so," he said.
He also said that "for the moment" Iran had no intention of suspending its voluntary implementation of the NPT's Additional Protocol, signed by Iran last December, which allows inspectors to conduct more intrusive, short-notice visits to nuclear sites.
The draft IAEA resolution urges Iran's parliament to ratify the protocol on snap inspections as soon as possible.
But the parliament, dominated by anti-Western Islamic conservatives, has warned it may throw out the protocol if international pressure on Iran's nuclear program persists.
Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said on Wednesday that its ratification could not be expected any time soon.
(Additional reporting by Mark Trevelyan, Louis Charbonneau, John Chalmers)