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Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani. (AP File Photo)
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| By Associated Press March 6, 2006 |
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Iran on Sunday threatened to begin large-scale uranium enrichment if the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog formally refers it the Security Council for possible sanctions when it meets Monday. Vowing never to stop researching enrichment, Iran offered what it called a "a final proposal" to agree on a timetable for increasing its production of the substance - which can power a plant but also fuel an atom bomb.
The country's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, defended his country's nuclear program as a matter of national sovereignty.
"If Iran's nuclear dossier is referred to the U.N. Security Council, (large scale) uranium enrichment will be resumed," Larijani told a news conference. "If they (the U.S. and its allies) want to use force, we will pursue our own path."
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.
Delegates to the Monday meeting suggested, however, that any initial decisions the council may make based on the outcome of the Vienna gathering will be mild, stopping far short of sanctions.
They said the most likely reaction from the council would be a presidential statement urging Iran to return to last year's freeze of enrichment - an activity that can make both fuel or the core of nuclear warheads - and to increase cooperation with an IAEA probe of its activities.
John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday that a failure by the U.N. Security Council to address Iran would "do lasting damage to the credibility of the council."
"The longer we wait to confront the threat Iran poses," Bolton said, "the harder and more intractable it will become to solve," Bolton told an influential pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington.
Iran only has an experimental nuclear research program and would need months to begin any large-scale enrichment.
This week, Iran, Russia and the Europeans explored plans that essentially would allow Iran small-scale enrichment after re-imposing a freeze for an undefined period to rebuild international trust. But talks broke up without any agreement.
Iran has insisted it will not give up its nuclear program, which it says is for peaceful energy purposes and is its right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
"Research and development won't stop, but we are ready to agree to a timetable on (large-scale uranium) enrichment. This is the final proposal from Iran to find a solution," Larijani said. "Nuclear research and development is part of Iran's national interests and sovereignty and won't give it up."
Larijani's said research-scale uranium enrichment gave Iran the prestige of a being nuclear power without acquiring a weapons program.
Sticking to small-scale enrichment means Iran would not run the thousands of centrifuges needed to enrich uranium that potentially could be used to build an atomic bomb or nuclear fuel to generate electricity. But it would allow Tehran to perfect the methodology it would need if it later decides to start industrial scale enrichment.
A report last week by IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran was testing centrifuges, which spin uranium gas into enriched uranium, and had plans to begin installation of the first 3,000 centrifuges late this year.
Iran restarted research-scale uranium enrichment last month, two years after voluntarily freezing the program during talks with Germany, Britain and France.
Larijani said Iran had exhausted "all peaceful ways" and that if demands were made contrary to the NPT, the nation "will resist."
Taking Iran to the U.N. Security Council, Larijani said, is "not an advantage for us and others. It can also make problems for others. However, it will not cause Iran to give up nuclear research and development. If anybody doubts this, they can test it."
Iran "will show appropriate cooperation with the IAEA if Iran's nuclear issue remains within the agency," he said.
Russia recently sought to persuade Iran to move its enrichment program to Russian territory, which would allow closer international monitoring. But Iran still insists on some domestic enrichment and Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Sunday that the proposal needed more discussion.
A compromise on referring Iran could leave Washington facing near isolation diplomatically after months of building a consensus that on Feb. 4 led the IAEA's 35-nation board to put the U.N. Security Council on alert.
But it could allow Iran, the EU and Russia to say they had achieved their main goals.
Iran would be able to run a program it insists it has a right to under the NPT, even if it is only on a research basis instead of full-scale enrichment.
The Europeans could tolerate small-scale enrichment if Iran first agrees to their key demand - a freeze to re-establish international confidence.
Enrichment is a key process that can determine the direction of a nuclear program. Uranium enriched to a low level produces fuel that can be used in a nuclear reactor, while higher enrichment produces the material needed for a warhead.
The United States and its Western allies accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies any intention to build weapons, saying it only aims to produce energy.
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