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Iran vows to press on as Cheney says all options remain open
AFP
TEHRAN
Petroleumworld.com 02 26 06Iran's president vowed to press on with his country's nuclear programme as Vice President Dick Cheney said the United States had not ruled out military force in its determination to stop him.
A day after the UN nuclear watchdog found Iran in breach of a Security Council ultimatum to suspend uranium enrichment, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in a defiant mood at a public rally.
"The Iranian people are vigilant and will defend all their rights to the end," he said in a speech in the provincial city of Gilan carried by the ISNA news agency.
"The great Iranian people are resisting the oppressors and will not concede one iota," he said. "If we take a step back, they'll come rushing forwards, but if we stand firm, it is they who will be forced to retreat."
A report issued on Thursday by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, concluded that Iran had not suspended its nuclear fuel enrichment as the Security Council had demanded.
The United States, France and Britain promptly called for increased sanctions by the UN Security Council. Germany said further consultations were necessary, while Russia and China withheld comment.
Iran's influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani urged the Security Council not to go down the road of new sanctions but instead to return to talks.
"Following Mr ElBaradei's report, they (Western governments) are readying tough new action, but I say to them that they will achieve nothing this way," Rafsanjani said in a sermon at weekly Muslim prayers in Tehran.
"I advise them to return to the negotiating table -- we are ready to give them the necessary guarantees," said Rafsanjani.
"But if you carry on down this road, you're going to create lots of problems for the world, yourselves and the region," he said, addressing the Western powers.
But on Friday, Cheney said the United States would "do everything" it can to deprive Iran of nuclear weapons, refusing to rule out force.
"We haven't taken any options off the table," Cheney he said in an interview with the US ABC News network from Australia, where he is traveling.
"A nuclear-armed Iran is not a very pleasant prospect for anybody to think about," he said. "We need to continue to do everything we can to make sure they don't achieve that objective.""We hope we can solve the problem diplomatically," Cheney said.
Saturday, Cheney reiterated that the United States favoured a diplomatic approach to Iran's nuclear programmes but refused to rule out using force to keep atomic weapons from Tehran.
"It would be a serious mistake if a nation like Iran were to become a nuclear power," Cheney warned during a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister John Howard. "All options are still on the table."
Two US aircraft carrier groups are currently in the Gulf region, the highest concentration of US naval firepower there since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Senior representatives from all six of the major powers pressing Iran will meet in London early next week to try to thrash out a consensus on the next step forward.
In Vienna, ElBaradei said that despite Tehran's failure to meet the UN deadline, he believed there was still a "window of opportunity for both Iran and the international community to turn to the negotiating table."
That was echoed by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who said in Brussels that "the door of negotiation remains open."
On December 23, the UN Security Council passed a resolution imposing limited sanctions on Iran and demanding it freeze enrichment, which makes fuel for civilian reactors but can also produce the core of an atomic bomb.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was to hold talks with ElBaradei in Vienna.
France's Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said a new resolution was needed to "continue the sanctions," and British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said London favoured additional measures that would "lead to the further isolation of Iran internationally."
But stronger sanctions could be opposed by Russia and China, permanent members of the Security Council with the power to veto any resolution.
At the United Nations, Slovakian Ambassador Peter Burian, the Security Council president for February, said he would sound out the body's 15 members next week on steps towards possible action against Tehran.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Friday that his country would not "tolerate" a nuclear-armed Iran, despite its dependence on the Islamic republic for oil.
Meanwhile, in Ottawa, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed hope that Russia would support a second Security Council resolution for sanctions against Iran to force an end to its nuclear programme, after talks with her Russian counterpart a day earlier.
The top US diplomat downplayed the likelihood of US military action against Iran."I don't want to speak for my Russian colleague, but ... we would expect to continue to pursue our Security Council track as well as to pursue a track that would hopefully lead to negotiations," Rice said during a visit to Ottawa.
"I expect on that, we're all on the same page," she said.
The IAEA report on Thursday said Iran had failed to cooperate on crucial issues that raise the possibility of a military dimension to its nuclear programme.
AFP 24 0209 GMT 02 07
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