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Iran threatens full-scale enrichment
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-24 07:17
Iran upped the ante Monday in its nuclear standoff, warning that it will
immediately begin developing a full-scale uranium enrichment program if it is
referred to the U.N. Security Council.
The message was delivered by Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's senior envoy to
the International Atomic Energy Agency. Enrichment can be used in electricity
production but it is also a pathway to making nuclear weapons.
Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, meeting with Qatar's First Deputy Prime
Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabar ai-Thani,
in Tehran, Iran on Monday Jan. 23, 2006.
[AP] |
Negotiations intensified ahead of a Feb. 2 meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation
board to decide on referral.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, planned to travel to Moscow on
Tuesday to discuss a proposal to have Iran's uranium enriched in Russia, then
returned to Iran for use in the country's reactors — a compromise that would
provide more oversight and ease tensions.
A European official said the two sides would discuss the possibility of
allowing Iran to conduct small-scale experimental enrichment itself if it agreed
to move all industrial production to Russia.
The official, who demanded anonymity in exchange for discussing confidential
details of the negotiations, refused to say whether Britain, France and Germany
— the key European nations behind the U.S.-supported push for referral — would
tolerate such a deal.
Those European nations and EU representatives also intensified diplomatic
efforts, with diplomats telling the AP they were sending senior representatives
to Brazil, Russia, China and Indonesia to persuade the key IAEA board members to
drop their opposition to referral.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday called for a step-by-step
diplomatic approach in the standoff, saying she wants "the largest majority
possible" for whatever course of action is decided upon by the IAEA.
While the Europeans believe they have enough votes to get Iran hauled before
the council Feb. 2, they want broad support, including from key developing
countries as well as Russia and China.
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