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Iran nuclear speech fuels backlash - US official

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 12:38 CDT

By Carol Giacomo and Sue Pleming

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's "uncompromising" U.N. speech has fueled a backlash, further isolating the Islamic Republic and persuading major powers they must respond, Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns said on Tuesday.

"There is no question that Iran has become increasingly isolated. It was seen to be a very harsh and uncompromising speech. It spoke about (Iran's) rights (to nuclear energy) but not its responsibility and many countries have found that to be objectionable," Burns told Reuters in an interview on the fringes of the U.N. General Assembly.

In his address on Saturday, Ahmadinejad told the 191-nation forum his country was determined to press ahead with making nuclear fuel and rejected international concerns Tehran's atomic program might be a cover for making weapons.

The United States and its allies accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear arms but the oil-rich country insists it wants only atomic energy.

The European Union turned up the pressure on Tuesday with a draft resolution reporting Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions for violating its international atomic obligations, but diplomats said Russia was strongly opposed.

Russia is building Iran's nuclear reactor at Bushehr and is to supply its fuel, so its views carry considerable weight.

In talks with foreign officials this week over whether to refer Iran to the Security Council, Burns said he found a "strong desire to signal to Iran this week that its actions have not been accepted by the great majority of the international community."

All insist Iran must resume talks with the major European powers -- Britain, France and Germany -- and open its nuclear activities to international inspections, he added.

The United States and the EU3 hoped last Saturday's speech by Ahmadinejad would offer a way out of the worsening dispute. Instead, the Iranian president was defiant, asserting his country had an inalienable right to produce nuclear fuel.

EU DRAFT RESOLUTION

The draft EU resolution asks the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "to report to all members of the agency and to the Security Council and General Assembly of the United Nations ... Iran's many failures and breaches of its obligations to comply with its NPT Safeguards Agreement."

The NPT is the benchmark nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The IAEA must report NPT breaches to the Security Council, which can take a range of actions ranging from a verbal slap on the wrist to broad economic and trade sanctions.

Western officials said an IAEA decision would take a few days as the major powers determine whether it was better to modify the draft to win Russian and maybe Chinese support.

The Iran debate has been influenced by negotiations with North Korea, in which the United States and four partners -- China, Russia, South Korea and Japan -- combined to present a united front in favor of Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear programs, some officials said.

The North Korea talks on Monday produced an agreement of principles as a basis for more detailed negotiations, the first concrete progress in three years of diplomacy.

Officials said the Iranian president's speech had made the EU3 determined to push for an IAEA referral and reinforced the view a united international front would be most effective.

About 24 of the IAEA board's 35 members would now favor a referral resolution, U.S. and allied officials say.

"It's a self-evident truth that if we're able to get a broad consensus with Russia and China, it strengthens the international community's hand with the Iranians on this dossier," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

"What has happened in the six-party talks in the last couple of days shows that pressure internationally, even on a country as isolated and self-contained as North Korea, was so intense that it had to come to the table and finally do a deal," he told reporters.

Some countries worry Security Council referral could lead to quick sanctions on Iran and eventually war, as happened with Iraq. But U.S. and European officials dismiss this concern.

"The argument that says, 'If you take something to the Security Council, it then leads to war,' is for the birds," said Straw.

Source: REUTERS

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