United Nations – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Thursday that it would face further punishment and isolation if it forges ahead with efforts to develop a uranium enrichment program, but she said the United States and other world powers are prepared to restart talks aimed at ending the standoff if Iran suspends its most controversial nuclear activities.
The remarks came hours after the International Atomic Energy Agency issued a report saying Iran has defied yet another U.N. Security Council demand to halt its most sensitive nuclear activities.
R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary for political affairs, will travel to London on Monday to press Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany to slap additional penalties against Iran.
“We have the common goal to encourage Iran back to the bargaining table,” Rice said after a meeting in Berlin with her counterparts from Russia, Germany and the European Union.
No scaling back
The IAEA report confirmed that Iran has continued to operate an experimental uranium enrichment program and that it has advanced its efforts to produce an industrial-scale facility that can potentially produce enough highly enriched uranium to make up to two bombs a year.
Iran says it has no intention of producing bomb-grade uranium and will use the facility to produce nuclear fuel for energy.
A senior Iranian official said the council’s demand to suspend its nuclear activities “could not be accepted by Iran” because it would strip Tehran of its right, under the 1970 Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, to operate a civilian nuclear energy program.
“This report shows that the best way to resolve this international issue is to return to the negotiating table and reach a broad agreement,” said the official, Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, according to Reuters news agency.
Wary of Bush moves
Russia, China and several European countries have become increasingly uncomfortable with the Bush administration’s positions on Iran as tensions between Tehran and Washington have risen in recent months.
Bush recently authorized the U.S. military to capture or kill Iranian intelligence and paramilitary agents in Iraq that the administration has said are involved in attacks against U.S. military forces. The Pentagon has sent two carriers to sit off the Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf, which some allies have interpreted as preparation for a possible military strike.
Those concerns have prompted renewed calls for direct dialogue with Iran. German, Swiss, Russian, Chinese, Saudi and IAEA officials have all reached out to Iran in recent weeks in the hopes of restarting talks even if Iran continues to defy the Security Council.
Several diplomats said there was a possibility that the E.U.’s top diplomat, Javier Solana, would meet next with Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani to come up with a list of guiding principles for future negotiations.
U.S and European diplomats said that they are pursuing a “dual track” diplomatic strategy – pressing simultaneously for additional sanctions and renewed negotiations with Teh ran – but remained divided over how tough new sanctions should be.
The United States, Britain and France favor imposing a series of additional penalties against Iran. But other European powers that conduct billions of dollars in trade with Iran – including Germany and Italy – have resisted the imposition of stringent economic sanctions that would harm their commercial interests.
Russia and China are also resisting a tough reaction.
