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| By israelinsider staff and partners September 2, 2006 |
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U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan began a visit to Iran on Saturday as the country's hardline president vowed to pursue its controversial nuclear program, which the West fears is aimed at developing atomic weapons.
The visit comes two days after Iran failed to meet a U.N. deadline for suspending its enrichment of uranium, paving the way to possible sanctions against the Islamic republic. Annan flew into Tehran around midday local time Saturday, said Abkar Ghasemi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman.
The nuclear dispute was to top the agenda for the U.N. chief's two-day meetings, but Annan is also expected to press Tehran to assist in implementation of the U.N.-sponsored cease-fire in Lebanon, whose Hezbollah guerrillas are believed to receive major financing and weapons from Iran.
The official IRNA news agency said Iran's nuclear program and the situation in Lebanon will dominate Annan's talks.
Annan, who is on a tour of the crisis-wracked Middle East, is expected to seek Tehran's support for the U.N. resolution that halted Israeli-Hezbollah fighting on Aug. 14 and that also called for a beefed-up U.N. force of 15,000 troops to deploy in the south to enforce the peace.
Syria, the other main ally of Hezbollah, promised Friday to increase border patrols and work with Lebanese troops to thwart the arms flow to Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon during a visit by Annan, but Israel was skeptical Damacus would guard the border.
In Tehran, Annan will meet top officials including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. The exact timing of the meetings was not known but state radio said that the U.N. chief would hold talks with the Iranian president on Sunday morning.
Hours ahead of Annan's arrival, Ahmadinejad vowed Saturday his country would forge ahead with its nuclear program despite U.S. pressure, state-run television reported.
"Hyperbole against Iran's peaceful nuclear activities by Western countries especially the U.S. will continue," the broadcast quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "But the resistance and awareness of this nation will defuse all these plots."
Ahmadinejad, speaking a crowd in the town of Miandoab in northwestern Iran, said: "Today those countries, which have filled up their arsenals with nuclear weapons, threaten nations and make claims about human rights and democracy. They are the biggest liars of the world."
"Avaricious powers can't create any obstacles on the way to the progress of our nation," he added.
In a renewed European diplomatic effort, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will hold talks in the coming days with the top Iranian nuclear negotiator, likely in Europe.
John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the U.N Security Council would wait to consider possible actions until after Solana has met with Larijani.
Speaking to MSNBC, Bolton said: "But this really is a test for the Security Council," he added. "If we can't deal in the council with a proliferation threat like Iran, then I think that tells us a lot about the utility of the council in the global struggle against proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
Bolton said the foreign ministers of the five permanent Council members and Germany had pledged to impose sanctions on Iran if it refuses to comply with the August 31 deadline set by Washington.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia is not in favor of sanctions, and Bolton accused him of contradicting himself Friday when he said sanctions are "counterproductive."
The Security Council had set the deadline over enrichment on July 31 and had asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to report on Tehran's compliance, dangling the threat of sanctions if Iran defied its will.
The agency said on Thursday that Iran had not suspended its uranium enrichment and that three years of probing had been unable to confirm "the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program" because of lack of cooperation from Tehran.
Still, with permanent veto-wielding council members Russia and China opposed to quick and harsh penalties because of their strong trade ties with Iran, the likelihood of immediate punitive measures appears in doubt.
Iran says it wants to develop a full-scale enrichment program to generate electricity, but there is growing suspicion the oil-rich country wants to misuse enrichment to create fissile material for nuclear warheads.
Annan asked to protest Iran's Holocaust cartoons
Annan has been asked by American Jews to speak out against Iran's Holocaust cartoon exhibition. In a letter circulated on Friday, the American Jewish Committee said Annan should use the opportunity to speak out "publicly and privately" about the exhibit.
The exhibit's organizers say that the more than 200 entries from Iran's International Holocaust Cartoons Contest are aimed at challenging Western taboos about discussing the catastrophe, in which 6 million Jews died. Iran's president has called the Holocaust a "myth".
"While we understand there are many vital issues on your agenda during your meetings in Iran, failure to address this government-endorsed and encouraged anti-Semitism would be seen, both inside and outside of Iran, as either acquiescence or worse, endorsement," the AJC letter said."
"Such an interpretation would be especially dangerous given the context of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments calling for Israel's destruction," wrote AJC's executive director, David Harris, and its president, Robert Goodkind.
The AJC letter said that Annan's visit would probably coincide with an announcement on Sept. 2 of winners in the cartoon contest.
It also expressed appreciation for Annan's "prior statements about the bigotry of Holocaust denial and the importance of not using free speech as a pretext for hateful incitement."
Iran's best-selling newspaper Hamshahri in February launched a competition to find the best cartoon about the Holocaust in retaliation for last September's publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in Danish and other European newspapers.
AP contributed to this report.
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