Iran crosses last red line; UN sanctions ahead?
Iran's abrupt resumption of its nuclear program this week, throwing Tehran's clerical regime into open conflict with the rest of the world, appears to have doomed current diplomatic efforts to curb the country's nuclear ambitions.
Ending a two-year freeze on research into uranium enrichment - an essential step in the production of both nuclear reactors and bombs - Iranian officials reopened the Natanz nuclear research facility on Tuesday. European leaders who had negotiated the research suspension said the move marked the end of their readiness for talks.
Foreign ministers from Britain, France, and Germany, whose two years of diplomatic efforts failed to persuade Iran to drop uranium enrichment permanently, are expected to launch a bid Thursday to refer Iran to the UN Security Council, which could enforce economic and political sanctions. There are signs, for the first time, that Russia and China may not stand in their way.
"We were in crisis management mode, offering dialogue," says a European diplomat close to the negotiations. "Now we have gone through every single red line. We have to move to another stage."
"The European Union door is shut and the Iranians have thrown away the key," added Ali Ansari, an expert on Iranian politics at St. Andrew's University in Scotland. "This was a symbolic slap in the face for the Europeans."
Iran insists its nuclear program is only for peaceful, electricity-generating purposes, and that it therefore has the right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to develop the full nuclear fuel cycle.
The US, increasingly supported by EU nations, claims Tehran is seeking to build a nuclear bomb. It is also worried by Iran's program to develop a long-range missile that could deliver it to Vienna - or Israel.
A three-year probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found no hard evidence that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon but has raised many unanswered questions. Chief among them is why the Iranian authorities hid large parts of their nuclear program for years, before they were revealed by an exile opposition group in 2002.
"I am running out of patience, the international community is running out of patience" with Iran's evasiveness over nuclear issues, IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei told Britain's Sky News television earlier this week.
If enriched to a low level, uranium can be used in power stations. But enriched to a higher degree, it can be used in nuclear warheads. To reassure the world of its peaceful intentions, Iran promised its European negotiating partners in October 2003 to suspend all activities related to the enrichment of uranium in return for political and economic incentives. Iran broke that pledge Tuesday.
While Washington and European governments appear ready to push for United Nations sanctions, which can be imposed only by the UN Security Council, Russia and China - both veto-wielding members of the Council - appear more cautious.
Traditionally Moscow and Beijing have been sympathetic to Tehran, but European diplomats had some success in winning their understanding.
Both China and Russia wrote letters to the Iranian government last weekend urging it to maintain its enrichment moratorium. Tuesday's move snubbed both.
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