Iran rejects curbs on nuke plans

Even before Iran's secret centrifuge enrichment program at Natanz was revealed by an Iranian exile group two years ago, Washington accused the Islamic republic of hiding a weapons program. IAEA inspections have heard contradictory explanations and found several more elements of a sophisticated program, but no smoking gun proving a weapons effort.

The US pressure on Iran has been spearheaded by Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton, who testified to Congress in June that Iran is "dead set on building nuclear weapons." He quoted one estimate that Iran's Bushehr reactor, when complete, could annually produce enough plutonium for 30 nuclear bombs. But some experts argue that US pressure has forced Iran's hand.

"We're in an extraordinarily dangerous situation here," says Natalie Goldring, head of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University in Washington. "Iran looked at the US position on Iraq and North Korea a long time ago and decided it wanted to look more like North Korea than Iraq."

By labeling Iran part of his "axis of evil," Bush "cut what little ground there was from under the moderates in Iran. How could they argue that it was appropriate to negotiate with a government calling them the new 'evil empire'?" says Ms. Goldring. "Iran is not behaving well. But our government is giving them every excuse to make these decisions."

Iran's defiance may also stem from other nuclear examples. "Pakistan is looking like a country that developed nuclear weapons, then failed to suffer the consequences," says Goldring, of the nation that has become a key US ally in the war on terror.

Iran's defiance is playing well at home. Many Iranians feel that they have done enough by opening up to inspections and resolving most nuclear issues. The latest IAEA report earlier this month was the most favorable to date.

"The more I look around, I find only support for our right to have nuclear technology - it's allowed under the NPT," says a veteran political observer reached by phone in Tehran. "In fact, part of the public wants to go further, to the level of weapons."

"They certainly believe that no concession will be enough to stop the United States" going after Iran's nuclear programs, says Michael Levi, a nuclear expert at King's College London.

"They hear half the story," Mr. Levi says of Iranians that he heard recently while taking part in an Iranian TV news show. "They hear that unprecedented access was given [to IAEA inspectors]. Correct. But they don't hear that lies were presented [to the IAEA]. They hear that Iran is being treated differently from everybody else. True. But no one points out that Iran has acted differently from everybody else.

"I don't know whether Iran doesn't understand it, or just won't acknowledge it," says Levi. "This isn't about correcting technical issues. This is about fixing a deficit of trust."

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