By Mark Heinrich
Threatening new sanctions, the United
States accused Iran
on Wednesday of defying the world by resuming uranium enrichment for nuclear
fuel without resolving suspicions it secretly wants to build atomic bombs.
Russia
urged Iran to
change course to allow a compromise. It said Iran had to regain international
trust before Moscow would back Tehran's declared right to enrich uranium on its
own soil.
Iran
resumed small-scale feeding of uranium gas into centrifuge enrichment machines
on Tuesday, officials close to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) said.
European Union powers had persuaded Tehran
to suspend enrichment in November 2003 over fears it was pursuing a nuclear
arsenal under cover of a civilian energy program. Tehran
says its program is only for nuclear-generated electricity.
"They have now crossed a point where they are in open
defiance (of the world community)," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The United States,
which has long imposed economic sanctions against Iran,
was considering further measures, said Rice.
The so-called "extraterritoriality" element of U.S.
sanctions against certain states that seeks to prevent non-U.S. firms doing
business in Iran
is deeply resented internationally.
Rice said U.S. President George W. Bush would ask Congress
for $75 million to try to promote democracy in Iran.
Critics say this might backfire as many Iranians are hostile to U.S.
policies in the Middle East.
RUSSIA
URGES COMPROMISE
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Iran
must suspend all atomic fuel enrichment work to give Moscow's
proposal to defuse the nuclear standoff a chance of success.
He said imposing sanctions on Iran
over fears it was secretly seeking nuclear arms would only make matters worse.
Russia
backed an IAEA vote on February 4 to report Iran
to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions, but has
floated its own idea for resolving the dispute.
It has proposed enriching Iranian uranium on its soil and
returning it to Iran
for use in atomic power reactors to prevent possible diversion of high-grade
fuel for bomb-making.
Lavrov said after talks with EU
leaders in Vienna that
Russian-Iranian talks set for February 20 were based on a package agreed with
Western powers trying to get Iran
to curb its nuclear work in exchange for economic incentives.
"For this to happen, there
must be a resumption of (EU-Iran) talks and it is clear that Iran
must resume a moratorium on enrichment on its own territory," Lavrov told a news conference.
"Sanctions ... are simplistic. They will not help. Not
in one single case have they ever helped," he said.
"If we want the (nuclear) Non-Proliferation Treaty not
to be violated and if we want to avoid living in fear of a secret military
nuclear program in Iran,
we must do all we can to maintain and develop the IAEA's
ability to do its job."
Russia
has significant trade interests in Iran,
including construction of Tehran's
first nuclear reactor and arms sales.
Lavrov said Iran
must fully cooperate with IAEA investigations to resolve international concerns
about its nuclear intentions before Moscow
would support a complete nuclear fuel industry on Iranian territory.
Iran's decision to retaliate for being referred to the U.N.
Security Council by resuming uranium enrichment and curbing some IAEA
inspections has drawn widespread international criticism.
Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik,
whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said Iran's
new enrichment work had needlessly escalated tensions with the West and would
damage Tehran's relations with the
25-nation bloc.
Iran
has given conflicting statements on what is being done at its Natanz pilot fuel enrichment plant.
Gholamreza Aghazadeh,
head of Iran's
atomic program, spoke of work on a "small laboratory scale," adding: "Injecting gas into one or a few centrifuges could
not be termed enrichment."
A senior Iranian official denied any uranium hexafluoride
gas had been injected into centrifuges.
2/15/06
Source: Reuters
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