U.N. watchdog says Iran enriched uranium

U.S.: ‘Diplomatic actions just beginning’
Bush said he was not discouraged by Iran’s vow to continue despite global pressure, and while he has refused to rule out the possibility of military action against Iran, he emphasized the pursuit of diplomatic efforts.

“I think the diplomatic options are just beginning,” he said in Washington.

John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Friday that “the United States is ready to take action in the Security Council to move to a resolution.”

“I think, if anything, the IAEA report shows that Iran has accelerated its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons although, of course, the report doesn’t make any conclusions in that regard,” Bolton said.

Bolton said the resolution should be under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter “making mandatory for Iran the existing requirements of the IAEA resolutions, and particularly the resolution the board passed in February.” Chapter 7 resolutions can be enforced by sanctions, or militarily.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier won broad support from NATO allies for a tough diplomatic line on Iran if Tehran fails to comply.

However, NATO foreign ministers meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, did not offer any specific threat of sanctions against Iran, in part to avoid a rift with Russia and China.

“On Iran, there was unanimity,” Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told reporters. “Although the clear message to the Iranian authorities is one of firmness, we have to continue with the diplomatic path.”

Rice said it was time for the Security Council to act if the world body wished to remain credible.

“The Security Council is the primary and most important institution for the maintenance of peace and stability and security and it cannot have its word and its will simply ignored by a member state,” Rice said.

No word after meeting
On Thursday, Iran’s deputy nuclear chief, Mohammad Saeedi, met with Olli Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s deputy director general in charge of Iran’s nuclear file, handing over material on Tehran’s nuclear program in a bid to stave off sanctions.

Diplomats, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss confidential details of the IAEA’s Iran probe, said they had no details of what Saeedi had brought to the table.

Still, they characterized the meeting between Saeedi and Heinonen as unlikely to blunt the report’s main finding: that Tehran has ignored council requests to suspend uranium enrichment.

Bolton already has said he plans to introduce a resolution requiring Tehran to comply with the council’s demand to stop its enrichment program. The resolution would not call for sanctions now, but it would be introduced under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows for sanctions and is militarily enforceable.

Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Javad Zarif, said Tehran will refuse to comply with such a resolution because its activities are legal and peaceful. Enrichment can be used to generate fuel or make the fissile core of nuclear weapons.

“If the Security Council decides to take decisions that are not within its competence, then Iran does not feel obliged to obey,” he said Thursday in New York.

He also said Tehran was prepared to return to discussions of the offer it made in negotiations with the Europeans last year if the international community agrees to “stop this nonsense, pressure tactic.”

Moscow idea 'still alive'
A Russian proposal to move Tehran’s uranium enrichment to Russian territory “is still alive,” he said, “and Iran is prepared to consider any proposal that will guarantee Iran’s rights.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, insisted the U.N. nuclear watchdog should continue to play a central role in the dispute. “It mustn’t shrug this role from its shoulders and pass it on to the U.N. Security Council,” Putin said.

But a top French diplomat laid out a starkly contrasting position reflecting U.S. and British views: The Security Council should not only have primacy in dealing with Iran but also should start considering how to increase the pressure. But, the diplomat said, a U.N. resolution would not automatically mean resorting to military action.

The Security Council adopted a statement a month ago giving Iran until Friday to suspend all activities linked to enrichment because it can be used to make the highly enriched uranium used in the core of nuclear warheads.

MORE FROM MIDEAST & N. AFRICA

Mideast & N. Africa Section Front

Brothers who fled Yemen can stay in U.S. Federal case threatens mosques Palestinians urge cancellation of election Diplomats question role of Iran nuke plant Iraq prison head, staff detained after breakout Mideast & N. Africa Section Front   Add Mideast & N. Africa headlines to your news reader: