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Iran threatens reprisals if punished in nuclear row
By Mark Heinrich and Parisa Hafezi
03/08/06 VIENNA (Reuters)
- Iran warned the United States on
Wednesday it could inflict "harm and pain" to match whatever
punishment Washington persuaded the U.N. Security Council to dole
out for Tehran's refusal to give up atomic research.
"So if the United States wishes to choose that path, let the ball
roll," senior Iranian national security official Javad Vaeedi said
in an interview with Reuters.
Iran, the world's No. 4 oil provider, also said it would review its
oil export policy should the Security Council tackle its case, which
EU powers said was now inevitable as Tehran had flouted demands to
prove it was not secretly after atomic bombs.
"The United States may have the power to cause harm and pain but it
is also susceptible to harm and pain," Vaeedi said.
Tehran and the United States, arch-foes since Iran's 1979 Islamic
revolution, clashed at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy
Agency's governing board called to consider an IAEA report that says
Iran is accelerating nuclear research.
The report by IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei, to be sent to the
Security Council later in the day, will form part of the basis for
any U.N. action. The U.N. agency's board decided a month ago to send
Iran's nuclear dossier to the council, as long as it deferred any
measures until after ElBaradei's report.
U.S. Ambassador Gregory Schulte told the board "the time has now
come for the council to act" as Iran had defied a February 4 IAEA
resolution to cease trying to master technology to produce fuel for
nuclear power plants or, potentially, bombs.
He said the top world body's approach should be "incremental" in
consultation with all its 15 members.
"(The council) should emphasise that Iran will face consequences" if
it does not heed world appeals, Schulte added.
A senior European Union diplomat said the council was due to convene
next week on Iran. But the option of sanctions mooted by Washington
faces formidable resistance from Russia and China.
The first step is likely to be a "presidential statement"
reinforcing IAEA calls on Iran to suspend all nuclear research and
stop stonewalling the nuclear watchdog's investigations.
The council's five permanent, veto-wielding powers are the United
States, Britain, France, Russia and China.
Moscow and Beijing share the West's wish to deny Iran nuclear
know-how but oppose any steps towards sanctions that would
jeopardise their lucrative energy investments in Iran.
Winning consensus even for targeted sanctions such as travel bans on
Iranian leaders could be a slow struggle given non-Western
resentment that Iran is being singled out while nuclear
proliferators such as Iran, Pakistan and Israel, all with good ties
to the West, are not dealt with similarly.
IRAN DENIES MILITARY INTENT
Iran insists it wants only nuclear-generated electricity but hid
atomic work from the IAEA for 18 years. Its recent calls for
Israel's destruction have heightened alarm in the West.
Iran, which U.S. and Israeli officials accuse of backing Islamic
militants in neighbouring Iraq and elsewhere has said previously it
can create problems for Washington in the region.
Asked whether the Islamic Republic could use an "oil weapon", Vaeedi
said: "We will not (do so now), but if the situation changes, we
will have to review our oil policies."
Vaeedi said Iran remained opened to a negotiated deal, but added:
"In any case, we will continue to exercise our (nuclear) research
and development activities based on our right."
Iran has accused the United States of having orchestrated the IAEA
move to report it to the Security Council as part of a U.S. policy
of "regime change" in states it deems hostile.
Tehran has spurned what EU diplomats called a tentative Russian
offer to let it do some atomic research if it refrained from
enriching uranium on an industrial scale for 7-9 years.
The United States and key EU allies Britain, France and Germany also
rebuffed the idea, saying it would not prevent Iran perfecting bomb
technology via enrichment research.
The West has backed a Russian compromise formula for a joint venture
to supply Tehran with low-enriched uranium for nuclear power plants
as long as this takes place only on Russian soil.
But Moscow's offer has snagged on Iranian insistence in pursuing its
own research with centrifuge enrichment machines
"Iran's unwillingness to cooperate fully with the IAEA, to do what
is necessary to rebuild confidence ... has made Security Council
action inevitable," EU3 powers said in a statement.
"This is not, however, the end of diplomacy," they said.
(Additional reporting by Francois Murphy)
© Reuters 2006.
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