Iran defiant as UN atomic agency set to meet

AUSTRIA: The UN atomic watchdog was set to meet here Monday to open the door to possible UN Security Council action against Iran over fears it is seeking nuclear weapons.

As Tehran struck a defiant tone, a top US official warned of "tangible and painful consequences" if it does not heed demands to halt uranium enrichment.

US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Sunday the international community should "use all tools at our disposal to stop the threat that the Iranian regime poses."

"The Iranian regime must be made aware that if it continues down the path of international isolation there will be tangible and painful consequences," Bolton told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

But the Islamic republic's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Iran would not freeze small-scale nuclear fuel work even if referred to the world body.

"Going to the Security Council will certainly not make Iran go back on research and development," Larijani told reporters in Tehran, adding that Iran would retaliate by pressing ahead with large-scale uranium enrichment.

Larijani said, however, that Iran was not intending to use oil as a weapon in the dispute or quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) - but warned this could change if the crisis worsened.

Iran claims it has the right to enrich uranium for nuclear reactor fuel as part of a peaceful energy program but the United States and Europe fear it will use enriched uranium to make atom bombs.

The board of governors of the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency meets this week in Vienna to consider a report from IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei that says Iran is defying IAEA calls to halt enrichment and to cooperate fully with agency inspectors.

The issue is expected to come up Tuesday or Wednesday.

The IAEA's 35-nation board reported Iran on February 4 to the Security Council but left a month open for diplomacy, until the Council's receipt of ElBaradei's report.

"I think the Security Council will have to have a serious discussion about what the next steps will be," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday.

But Rice said there was no need to rush to sanctions.

The Security Council could adopt a "presidential declaration" calling on Tehran to heed IAEA calls, diplomats said.

Washington will ask the Council to give Iran a 30-day deadline to comply with international demands over its nuclear program, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

If Tehran does not comply within 30 days, the US will propose that it face "severe diplomatic pressures", the Post said, including travel bans on Iranian officials, an embargo on Iran's oil exports, or other economic sanctions.

But such sanctions could run into opposition from key Iranian allies Russia and China, which have vetoes on the Council.

French President Jacques Chirac meanwhile said in Saudi Arabia that it was not too late for Iran to strike a deal if it agrees to suspend uranium enrichment, an agreement that failed to materialize at a meeting in Vienna Friday between Iran and EU negotiators Britain, France and Germany.

Vienna, Monday, AFP