US:
Iran has one-week 'opportunity' to defuse standoff
By
Olivier Knox
AFP
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com
02 28 06
The United States said Monday that Iran had a one-week "opportunity,"
before the March 6 meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog agency,
to ease fears that it seeks atomic weapons.
The warning from Washington came as a senior Russian official
said Moscow and Tehran would on Tuesday resume 11th-hour talks
aimed at easing the tense standoff, after early reports of a tentative
compromise seemed to fizzle out.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meets March 6 to
assess whether to refer the Iranian nuclear dossier to the UN
Security Council, which has the power to introduce sanctions on
Iran over the nuclear issue.
"We've said that during this time the regime in Iran has
an opportunity to change their ways and change their behavior
when it comes to the nuclear program," said White House spokesman
Scott McClellan.
"The international community remains concerned about the
regime's behavior and about their intentions when it comes to
their nuclear program. That's why the matter has been reported
to the United Nations Security Council," he said.
His comments came as the IAEA reported that Iran is planning to
set up 3,000 centrifuges as it moves towards industrial-scale
uranium enrichment in defiance of Western fears that this could
be used to make nuclear weapons.
The confidential IAEA report may be crucial in the UN Security
Council's deciding whether to take punitive action against Iran,
which the United States accuses of seeking nuclear weapons under
cover of a civilian atomic program.
The IAEA has called on Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment
work.
But Iran is pushing ahead and on February 15 fed a 10-centrifuge
research cascade at a facility in Natanz with the uranium gas
that is processed into enriched uranium, which can also be used
as fuel for nuclear power reactors.
Earlier, McClellan reacted warily to Iran's announcement that
it had reached an agreement in principle with Russia on a plan
under which the two countries would set up a joint venture on
Russian territory for enrichment of uranium to be used in Iran's
first nuclear power station.
"We will see. Given their history, you can understand why
we remain skeptical," McClellan said. "The regime has
shown they cannot be trusted."
Russia also poured cold water on talk of a possible compromise,
saying there was still much work to be done to reach agreement
and warning that time was quickly running out ahead of the March
6 deadline.
Moscow also urged Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment work in
Iran, a critical sticking point in diplomatic efforts to end the
standoff.
"The Russian proposal to create a joint venture for the enrichment
of uranium in Russia is part of a general effort to remove concerns
on the Iranian nuclear program," Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov told journalists.
"We are convinced that, among other components of this effort,
a moratorium on enrichment of uranium in Iran is required until
all issues have been clarified by the experts" of the IAEA,
he added.
Lavrov's comments provided one of the clearest indications to
date that Russia was in line with the European Union and the United
States in diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to compromise in
granting a measure of international control over the most sensitive
aspects of its nuclear program.
Russia is building Iran's first nuclear power station but shares
Western concerns that Tehran may use its civilian nuclear program
to camouflage plans to build nuclear weapons.
While vehemently denying this, Iran insists on total control over
the uranium enrichment process, which can be used to produce both
nuclear fuel and the core ingredient of nuclear bombs.
AFP
02 27 06
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© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
