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Iran's nuclear maneuverings irk Russia
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-18 09:14
Russia's growing anger at Iran's reluctance to compromise on its nuclear
activities could help the United States and other nations seeking to refer
Tehran to the U.N. Security Council, diplomats said Thursday.
Russia is
a key Iran ally and veto-wielding member of the Security Council that has
opposed referring the Islamic state to the world body. But frustration in
Moscow could swing the Russians closer to the U.S.-European position, one diplomat
told The Associated Press.
Russia has been increasingly active in recent weeks in efforts to bridge
differences between Tehran and the West only to face Iranian intransigence, said
the diplomats, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the
information.
Most recently, they said, Iranian officials told the Russians on Wednesday
they would not resume uranium conversion — only to do so a few hours later.
So far, Russia has been influential in getting Iran back to negotiations on
uranium enrichment. The Americans and Europeans recently agreed to abandon
demands that Iran renounce enrichment and related activities and instead
endorsed a plan allowing Iran to convert uranium but move the enrichment process
to Russia.
In theory, that would deny Iran the capacity to produce weapons-grade uranium
for nuclear weapons — something the Americans and their allies say Iran wants to
do. Tehran insists it is interested in enrichment only to make nuclear fuel for
electricity.
Gregory L. Schulte, the chief U.S. representative to the IAEA, alluded to
recent comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Israel should be
wiped off the map.
"A country that threatens 'death' to other countries must be denied the most
deadly of weapons," he said Thursday in a speech at Vienna's Diplomatic Academy.
He accused Tehran of "lying, covering up and withholding information on its
nuclear activities."
He said that even Russia, a key Iranian ally, believes Iran "is developing a
nuclear weapons capability."
When senior Iranian officials told Russian counterparts that they had decided
not to resume conversion for "technical reasons," the Russians interpreted that
as a positive sign. It raised hopes of easing tensions two weeks before the
35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency meets in Vienna Nov.
24 to consider possible referral to the Security Council, which can impose
sanctions.
Tehran's reversal was not unexpected: Iran had said several weeks ago it
would process a new batch of raw uranium into a precursor of the gas used to
enrich uranium. But it was nonetheless a blow, eroding the Russian goodwill
Tehran needs, the diplomats said.
The reversal also came soon after Russian Security Council head Igor Ivanov
had briefed senior EU officials about Iran's readiness to compromise, which
further embarrassed and angered the Russians, said a European official speaking
from outside Vienna.
A man who answered the phone at the Russian diplomatic mission in Vienna
responsible for the IAEA said the head of the mission was not available for
comment.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns was en route to London on
Thursday for a meeting with British, French and German negotiators representing
the European Union on Iran's nuclear situation.
Also, Iran recently allowed U.N. nuclear inspectors to revisit the Parchin
military site, about 20 miles southeast of Tehran, in an effort to blunt chances
of Security Council referral.
Diplomats have told the AP that initial results of samples from the site
showed no trace of radiation. But diplomats said Thursday that the nuclear
agency found additional evidence that increase suspicions about Iran's agenda.
They said a report by IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei to be presented at the
upcoming board meeting will present new findings about "dual-use" equipment held
by Iran — technology that can be used both for peaceful nuclear applications or
in programs to make weapons.
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