Iran to clarify atomic plans says UN

Mohamed ElBaradei

TEHRAN - The UN's nuclear watchdog head said yesterday Iran had told him it would step up efforts to answer questions on its atomic plans, while Tehran rejected calls to halt work the West says is designed to make weapons.

Mohamed ElBaradei, due to report to the UN Security Council at the end of April on Iranian compliance with a demand to halt uranium enrichment, held talks in Tehran 48 hours after Iran said it had enriched uranium for the first time.

"Iran will accelerate its efforts in the next couple of weeks to provide clarity to the issues that we need to clarify before I write the report," ElBaradei told reporters. Iran says its nuclear program is only for power generation.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose government has taken a firmer stance on the nuclear issue since winning power in elections last August, remained defiant despite a welter of international criticism over the enrichment announcement.

"Our answer to those who are angry about Iran obtaining the full nuclear cycle is one phrase. We say: 'Be angry and die of this anger'," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by Iran's IRNA news agency.

The United States says it wants a diplomatic solution, but US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United Nations must consider strong action against Iran, such as a resolution that could lead to sanctions or lay the groundwork for force.

"I am certain we will look at measures that can be taken to ensure that Iran knows that they really have no choice but to comply," Rice told reporters in Washington.

Despite three years of probing, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says it cannot verify Iran's nuclear program is entirely peaceful, but it has found no hard proof of efforts to build atomic weapons.

ElBaradei, head of the IAEA, has been tasked by the UN Security Council to report on whether Iran was complying with demands to halt uranium enrichment, which has civilian and military uses.

Iran said on  Wednesday it had enriched uranium to 3.5 per cent, the level needed to make fuel for nuclear power reactors but well below the grade required to make weapons. It said it would press ahead with plans for industrial-scale production.

ElBaradei said IAEA inspectors, who have been visiting Iranian nuclear sites, had taken samples and would report back to the IAEA's board.

An IAEA spokeswoman said senior inspectors would travel to Iran next week.

In Vienna, an IAEA diplomat, who declined to be named, said the presence in the team of Olli Heinonen, ElBaradei's deputy for safeguards issues, suggested Iran was ready to provide some missing information.

The UN Security Council has told Iran to halt all sensitive atomic activities and on March 29 asked the IAEA to report on its compliance in 30 days.

"We will continue our dialogue with Iran. I will continue to make my best efforts to make sure that this issue is resolved through peaceful ways," ElBaradei said after talks with Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

He also met Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy dismissed talk of military action against Iran as "absolutely not topical".

China said it would send a top envoy on arms control, Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai, to Iran and Russia to try to defuse the standoff.

Reflecting regional concern about Iran's program, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Cairo "cannot accept the appearance of a military nuclear force in the region".

In a statement released after a meeting in Cairo with US Under Secretary of State Robert Joseph, Aboul Gheit urged all sides to seek a diplomatic solution.

"It's wishful thinking to think Iran would shut down the nuclear process entirely now," said a diplomat at the IAEA, declining to be identified.

"They have obviously achieved a significant advance at the research and development level and want to present it as a fait accompli to strengthen their bargaining position with the West."

Diplomats at the UN Security Council said the five veto-wielding permanent council members -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- would discuss Iran next week in Moscow where they would be joined by Germany.

They said the council was unlikely to take action before receiving ElBaradei's report.

Experts say it would take Iran two decades to produce enough highly enriched uranium for one bomb from its current 164 centrifuges. But Iran says it will to install 3,000 centrifuges, which could make enough material for a warhead in one year.

Iranian officials say the Natanz enrichment plant has capacity for 54,000 centrifuges.

- REUTERS