Iran to halt spot atomic checks if reported to UN

TEHRAN - Iran today threatened to halt snap UN inspections of its nuclear sites and resume uranium enrichment if it was reported to the UN Security Council as agreed by the council's five permanent members.

In a new report, the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran had already begun preparing for uranium enrichment, which can potentially produce fuel for bombs, and continued to hinder inquiries into its atomic activities.

The big powers said a crisis meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board tomorrow should "report to the Security Council on the steps required from Iran".

But they said the council should then wait until IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei reports on Iran's nuclear program at a regular IAEA meeting on March 6 before deciding on any action.

That gives Tehran a few more weeks to try to negotiate its way out of the crisis, though it gave little sign of compromise.

"We will never abandon our rights to nuclear technology and if referred to the Security Council, Iran will stop voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency.

The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty's Additional Protocol, signed but not ratified by Iran, gives UN inspectors greater powers of access to suspected sites, including spot checks.

Mehr also quoted chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani as saying Tehran would lift all suspensions on nuclear work if referred or reported to the Security Council.

Iran, which says its nuclear program is purely peaceful, announced this month it was resuming nuclear research which had been suspended for 2-1/2 years. It removed UN seals on equipment at its Natanz pilot enrichment plant on January 9.

RENOVATION WORK

In the report to be discussed at tomorrow's emergency meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors, the agency said Iran had not yet begun purifying uranium but had begun major renovation work at Natanz.

Iran had also refused to let the IAEA question a scientist linked to attempts to buy equipment that could be used for nuclear weapons or peaceful purposes and did not let the IAEA copy a document "related to the fabrication of nuclear weapon components", although it let the agency look at it.

A senior Iranian nuclear negotiator in Vienna said the report showed Iran had fully cooperated with the IAEA and that reporting it to the Security Council would benefit nobody.

Involving the Security Council would mean "the end of diplomacy" to solve the crisis, Larijani, who is secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told state television.

"If these countries use all their means ... to put pressure on Iran, Iran will use its capacity in the region," the semi-official ISNA news agency quoted him as saying.

It was not clear what regional capacities he meant. Analysts and diplomats say Iran, with its links to Islamist parties and militants, has the means to create trouble for the West in Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and elsewhere.

RUSSIAN, CHINESE ROLE

Russia and China had resisted pressure from the United States and its European allies for swift recourse to the Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions.

Russia had argued for the IAEA simply to inform the Security Council about Iran's case, avoiding a formal referral.

However, the White House said it expected the IAEA to refer the Iranian nuclear dossier to the council this week.

"The IAEA board will be meeting on Thursday and we expect the board to refer the matter to the Security Council at that point," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russian and Chinese diplomats would fly to Tehran shortly to urge Iran to answer outstanding IAEA concerns. Russia's Ria news agency said later the Russian team would arrive on Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she was confident of Russia and China's support to send Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council but she expected differences over exactly what steps to take.

"There is a very strong consensus on what the problem is and that the problem has to be dealt with. I expect there will continue to be tactical differences about timing. There may even be tactical differences about precisely what is required but that's the hard work of the diplomacy," Rice told reporters.

Libyan Energy Minister Fathi Omar Bin Shatwan said referral of Iran's case to the council would have a serious effect on world oil prices, already just shy of record highs.

But Iran's Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri eased concerns that the world's fourth biggest crude oil producer could curb oil exports in reprisal, as Tehran has previously hinted it may do.

"We are not mixing oil with politics," he told reporters at the start of an Opec meeting in Vienna.

- REUTERS