Iran

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TweetCheney: Iran Will Not Be Allowed to Have a Nuclear Weapon

Tuesday, March 07, 2006



WASHINGTON — The Bush administration said Tuesday that any enrichment of nuclear fuel on Iranian territory was unacceptable, while Vice President Dick Cheney said the United States won't tolerate Tehran possessing a nuclear weapon.

"The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course, the international community is prepared to impose meaningful consequences," Cheney said in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "We join other nations in sending that regime a clear message: we will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

Cheney also echoed remarks made to the same conference over the weekend by John Bolton, America's ambassador to the United Nations, when he said Iran's insistence on enriching uranium will lead to "tangible and painful consequences."

White House officials say they fully expect the matter to be taken up by the U.N. Security Council this week. The Bush administration spearheaded the effort to get the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer the Iranian nuclear issue to the Security Council, which it did.

"We will see what is necessary to do in the Security Council," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. She said there was still time for Iran to change its ways.

Russia appears to be closing ranks with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program. Moscow had offered to allow Iran to enrich uranium on Russian soil for energy needs in order to take some heat off the Islamic Republic from the international community so it can avoid sanctions.

But some media reports had suggested Lavrov's mediation efforts on the nuclear issue have driven a wedge between Washington and Moscow since he reportedly was considering allowing Iran to enrich a small amount of uranium domestically. At a joint State Department news conference, Lavrov and Rice said there was no such compromise in sight with Iran.

"The Russians did not tell us of any new proposal that they have made to the Iranians," Rice said during the press conference. "We still hope that this can be resolved in a, through negotiations, through the IAEA. But it's going to require the Iranians to suspend their activities."

"There is no compromise, new Russian proposal," Lavrov said, insisting that his government's negotiations with Iran are bound by a Feb. 4 initiative, endorsed by the IAEA, that would provide for uranium enrichment to be conducted only in Russia for Iran's fuel needs. "(W)e repeatedly stated that it's only in this context that this joint venture initiative is available," he emphasized.

But Iran's envoy to the IAEA said Tuesday that his country was not prepared to freeze small-scale enrichment, a key demand of not only Moscow and Washington, but of the European Union and many other nations, as well.

"We've spent a lot on this," said the envoy, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, outside a 35-nation IAEA board meeting that is preparing to focus on Iran.

That IAEA meeting in Vienna ended Tuesday with no discussion of Iran, however; the issue is expected to be brought up during Wednesday morning's meeting.

From the State Department, Rice and Lavrov were headed to the White House for a meeting with President Bush. Earlier in the day, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the U.S. expects the U.N. Security Council to move forward to rebuke Tehran for its disputed nuclear program.

"The international community has spelled out what Iran must do — that means suspend all enrichment activity," McClellan said.

McClellan's comments came as a diplomat at the IAEA meeting told The Associated Press that Iran is offering to suspend full-scale uranium enrichment for up to two years. The offer reflected Tehran's attempts to escape Security Council action over the activity, which can be used to make nuclear arms.

The diplomat said Tehran's offer was made Friday by chief Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani in Moscow in the context of contacts between Iran and Russia on moving Tehran's enrichment program to Russia.

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TweetIran Threatens U.S. With 'Harm and Pain' Over Nuke Meeting

Wednesday, March 08, 2006



VIENNA, Austria — Iran threatened the United States with "harm and pain" on Wednesday for its role in hauling Tehran before the U.N. Security Council over its suspect nuclear program.

"The United States has the power to cause harm and pain," said a statement meant for delivery at the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board meeting on Tehran's refusal to freeze uranium enrichment. "But the United States is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if that is the path that the U.S. wishes to choose, let the ball roll."

The United States and its European allies said Wednesday the world has no choice but to ask for the U.N. Security Council to take action against the Islamic regime as Iran's leader said his country will not back down from plans.

"The time has now come for the Security Council to act," Gregory Schulte, the U.S. delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the group's 35-nation board as it began discussions on Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Schulte listed Iran's decision to curtail International Atomic Energy Agency inspections, its expanding uranium enrichment program and worrying conclusions by IAEA inspectors that suggest at least past interest in nuclear arms as contributing to "mounting international concerns" about Tehran's nuclear intentions.

"Iran has still not come clean," he said.

The IAEA meeting is in effect the last step before the Security Council begins to consider Iran's nuclear plans. Iran's president said earlier Wednesday that his country will not back down from plans to enrich uranium domestically.

"Our nation has made its decision to fully use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and all have to give in to this decision made by the Iranian nation," said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in western Iran. "We have made our choice."

His comments — and U.S. and Russian statements the day before rejecting any compromise that would allow Tehran to enrich uranium domestically — set the stage for Security Council action once the 35-nation board meeting of the IAEA hears a report on Iran's nuclear program and debates the issue.

Washington warned Tuesday of "meaningful consequences" if Iran does not back away from an international confrontation over its nuclear program. It also rejected any potential last-minute compromise to allow Iran to develop nuclear fuel that could be used for weapons.

France, Germany and Britain, which spearheaded the Feb. 4 IAEA resolution clearing the path for Security Council action once this week's meeting ends, warned that what is known about Iran's enrichment program could represent only "the tip of the iceberg."

"We believe that the time has ... come for the U.N. Security Council to reinforce the authority" of the IAEA and its board, said a draft statement by the three European countries, meant for later delivery.