Stage set for Iran-West confrontation

UNITED NATIONS: The stage is set for a major confrontation between the West and Iran after the IAEA said that the gulf nation has failed to comply with a UN deadline to halt uranium enrichment and the US asserted that it would seek sanctions to deny Tehran military equipment and dual use technology.

In a report sent simultaneously to UN Security Council and IAEA Board of Directors on Friday, the international nuclear watchdog's chief Mohamed Elbaradei said Iran has not fully cooperated with its inspectors and refused to give more information on key issues including centrifuge programme. Nor has it halted its nuclear enrichment programme.

Iran vowed that it would not end the programme and American and British officials said they planned to introduce a resolution under Chapter 7 of the Charter in the Council as early as next week asking Tehran to stop producing uranium.

The invocation of Chapter 7 makes the resolution mandatory. It also opens the door for sanctions and even military action if Iran fails to comply.

Washington asserted that it would seek sanctions to deny Iran military equipment, dual use technology and international lending facilities.

To pressurise Russia and China, who are reluctant to take the mandatory action, the US held out possibility of coalition of nations applying sanctions outside the UN. But diplomats said they do not expect the US to advocate a military action in view of its preoccupation in Iraq and rising energy prices.

In an eight-page report, Elbaradei accepted Iran's claim that it has enriched small low grade uranium which some  western analysts had called a mere boast.

The IAEA, Elbaradei said, also found that Iran used undeclared plutonium in small scale separation experimentations. Iran continued to deny agency's request for a copy of document showing plans about making atomic weapons.

The immediate effect of the IAEA report was on already high oil prices which rose further amidst fears that Iran, the second largest producer in OPEC, might use oil as a weapons if sanctions are imposed irrespective of the fact whether the action is through the UN or outside the world body.

Even as diplomats at the UN said that they are still studying the report, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asserted that Tehran would not give up its nuclear programme which it claims is aimed at peaceful uses of atomic energy and not intended for producing atomic weapons.

But the Western nations suspect that Iran's ultimate aim is to produce nuclear weapons to threaten Israel.  Vowing that it would not bow down to outside pressures, Iran asked the world to recognise its right to enrich uranium for peaceful uses of the nuclear energy under the Non-Nonproliferation Treaty and start negotiations from that point.

Stating that facts on the ground have changed, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, Chairman of the Iran Atomic Energy Organization, asserted in Vienna that uranium enrichment is "irreversible." 

In Washington, US President George W Bush criticized the Iranian "intransigence" as "unacceptable" but laid emphasis on diplomacy to allay concerns about possible military action against Iranian nuclear facilities. "Diplomacy is just beginning," he said.