Britain sets nuclear deadline for Iran
British officials say Tehran must suspend all uranium enrichment activities or face possible UN action.
Britain has given Iran
two months stop uranium enrichment or face a demand for United Nations sanctions, reports
The Age of Melbourne, Australia.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) governing board meets next week and a senior British official cited by
The Age said Western countries would seek a resolution designating the board's November meeting as the "point of decision".
The new position was agreed by British, French, and German foreign ministers at a meeting in the Netherlands during the weekend, reports
The Guardian, which says the deadline "effectively
marks the failure of more than a year of negotiations between Tehran and the European troika of Britain, France, and Germany."
Refusal by Iran to comply would produce a new Middle East crisis in which the issue would almost certainly be referred to the United Nations security council, which could opt for punitive action.
Although the deadline is designed to pile pressure on Iran, the early signs from Tehran are that the theocratic regime is unwilling to comply unconditionally and that it is seeking major concessions from the west in return, including a trade agreement and transfer of civil nuclear technology.
The Age asserts that "an unspoken objective is to defer any crisis until after the US presidential election early in November."
The decision brings the European countries closer the US stance on Iran. US Secretary of State Colin Powell Wednesday
repeated demands that Iran be referred to the UN Security Council for allegedly trying to make atomic weapons.
European diplomats said Wednesday that
Iran tentatively agreed to freeze some of its sensitive nuclear activities, reports
The Guardian. The
New York Times reported that the offer
complicates the US bid to get allies' support on the issue. But
BBC reports that British officials
dismissed the reported Iranian offers. "This kind of thing should not come days before an IAEA meeting," they said.
A senior Russian nuclear official said Wednesday that an atomic reactor Moscow is building for Iran
faces further delays, reports
Reuters.
Diplomatic sources and specialists in Moscow have said President Vladimir Putin's growing recognition of Washington's concerns over Iran's nuclear program have pressured the Kremlin into delaying until the International Atomic Energy Agency determines that Iran's nuclear program is in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (which it has signed).
The official said the nature of the difficulty is technical and has nothing to do with US pressure.
A separate
Reuters report cites Iranian exile Alireza Jafarzadeh, who "has reported accurately on Iran's nuclear programme in the past," as saying that "Iran continues to use existing differences between the US and Europe to their advantage and tries to drag out talks with the EU to
buy time."
'They feel they have bought at least 10 months,' Jafarzadeh said. He said he was citing sources in Iran familiar with the results of a recent high-level meeting on Iran's nuclear programme attended by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Jafarzadeh said officials at the meeting also decided to allocate an additional $2 billion from Iran's central bank reserves to supplement some $14 billion already spent on what he called Iran's 'secret nuclear weapons programme'. Jafarzadeh has been linked to various anti-Iranian groups.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the
Jerusalem Post in an interview Tuesday that the world is
not doing enough to stop Iran from developing atomic weapons.
Sharon said 'there is no doubt' that Iran is trying to obtain nuclear weapons. 'That is their intention, and they are doing it by deception and subterfuge, using this cover or that. This is completely clear.' Mr. Sharon told the
Post that Israel "is taking its own measures to defend itself...."
In 1981,
Israel bombed an Iraqi nuclear plant near Baghdad it said would soon be capable of producing atomic weapons.
US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security
John Bolton will visit Israel Sunday on his way to the IAEA meeting in Vienna. Mr. Bolton is scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and other senior Israeli officials, as part of efforts to transfer the "Iran case" to the United Nations Security Council, reports the Israeli daily
Ha'aretz.
Also...
•
Rumsfeld: Money from Iran fuels Iraq insurgency (
The Daily Times, Pakistan)
•
Seoul admits second nuclear trial (
BBC)
•
US hawks ready to swoop on Iran (
The Age, Australia)
•
Bush can't afford inaction on Iran (
The Los Angeles Times)
•
Massacre draws self-criticism in Muslim press (
The New York Times)
•
US troops' death rate rising in Iraq (
The Washington Post)
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Jim Bencivenga
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