nited Nations – A defiant Iran said Tuesday that it is determined to hold on to all aspects of its nuclear program, including uranium enrichment, and lashed out at the United States and Europe for trying to limit its efforts.
The comments, made by Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi at a conference on the future of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, came as officials in Tehran indicated they were ready to end a suspension of some of their nuclear programs.
“We will definitely restart some activities,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
He didn’t specify which operations would resume or when, but he added that uranium enrichment “will remain the last option.”
European officials reacted cautiously, suggesting the comments had more to do with Iranian domestic politics than a desire to break off negotiations with Europe.
But one senior European official, who would discuss strategy only on condition of anonymity, said that if Iran begins any work with uranium – a key ingredient in nuclear weapons – it is likely that Britain, France and Germany will consider their negotiations with Iran terminated.
The pronouncements left little doubt that the crisis over Tehran’s nuclear program was escalating and that two years of Iranian-European negotiations were in trouble.
U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier assured Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a meeting Tuesday in Washington that if Iran makes good on its promises, France would support taking the matter into the U.N. Security Council – a move the Bush administration has been pushing for and the Iranians had hoped to avoid.
Barnier also emphasized calm and said France believed a showdown could be avoided.
But one U.S. official said the administration began working Tuesday on options for Security Council action, which could include warnings to Iran or the threat of economic sanctions if the nuclear program continues.
Under the terms of the nuclear treaty, which are being reviewed at the conference this month, Iran and other countries that forgo nuclear weapons are eligible for sensitive nuclear technology as long as it is used for peaceful energy programs.
Iran maintains that it is adhering to that arrangement, but the Bush administration said Monday that Iran should not be allowed to benefit from it any longer because it spent 18 years constructing nuclear facilities in secret.
