Europeans to Seek New U.N. Action on Iran
EU-3 will ask nuclear monitor to weigh a step toward sanctions. Russia, China hesitate.

By John Daniszewski
January 17, 2006
Los Angeles Times
Original Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fg-iran17jan17,1,7755292.story



LONDON — Britain, France and Germany announced Monday that they will ask the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency to meet in two weeks to consider referring Iran to the Security Council over its nuclear ambitions, but the trio failed to bring aboard Russia and China.

A day of consultations here among the European governments and senior officials from Russia, China and the United States produced no consensus statement. This was an apparent sign of lingering Russian and Chinese reluctance to quickly apply additional pressure to Iran, which last week reopened a nuclear research facility shuttered by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Both nations have important commercial ties with Iran.

Although Russia insisted its position was very close to that of the Europeans and the United States — which want the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer Iran immediately to the Security Council — President Vladimir V. Putin cautioned against making sharp, erroneous moves … [and] premature statements regarding punitive actions by the United Nations.

I will not allow the Foreign Ministry to take even one false step, he said, adding that Iran still could accept his offer to conduct limited uranium enrichment with Iran on Russian territory. Such a plan could ensure that the enrichment does not exceed the level necessary to produce fuel for power plants. 

The main problem is uranium enrichment, Putin said after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Kremlin. 

We proposed to create a joint venture with our Iranian partners to enrich uranium in Russia, and we have heard different views from our Iranian partners. One of them was expressed by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, which [is that] Tehran does not rule out such an option.

China's position was less clear. Last week, Beijing said a referral to the U.N. Security Council could complicate the situation. China buys much of its oil and gas from Iran. 

Senior diplomats of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, plus Germany, took part in the talks, which were billed as informal.

A British Foreign Office spokesman said at the end of the day that the European countries had informed the others that they intended to seek a special meeting of the IAEA board of governors in Vienna on Feb. 2 and 3, when they are expected to urge the board to refer Iran to the Security Council.

The U.S. representative at the meeting, Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns, said the United States would welcome such an action.

Britain, France and Germany, known as the EU-3, have been talking with Iran for two years to persuade the Tehran regime to rein in its nuclear program, which Iran insists is aimed at enriching fuel for energy production, and not weapons. Iranian officials appear resolved to move forward with the research after breaking seals placed by the IAEA on the nuclear facility at Natanz.

After initially opposing the European talks and backing a more confrontational approach, the United States late last year lined up behind the diplomatic effort.

Iran's recent decision to reopen its enrichment plant, however, moved the European Union close to the U.S. position of seeking possible punitive measures at the United Nations.

But just as the five permanent members of the Security Council took conflicting views during the run-up to the war in Iraq, there are signs that unity on Iran will be difficult to achieve.

Russia is the chief contractor for Iran's $1-billion civilian nuclear power plant at Bushehr, scheduled to come online this year. The project has been providing much-needed jobs and cash to Russia's nuclear industry.

Over the last week, Britain and the United States have been at the forefront of efforts to move the Iran issue to the United Nations, which could order diplomatic or economic sanctions if Iran does not improve its cooperation with the IAEA on nuclear activities.

But Russia and China, whose support would be essential for U.N. sanctions to be mandated, have been milder in their criticism.

Iran has warned that if its nuclear program comes before the Security Council, it would stop cooperating with IAEA inspections entirely.

In an interview prior to the talks in London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw acknowledged the lingering divisions. The international community is not going to split on the issue of Iran, but it's not been of one mind either, he told Channel 4 news.

Straw highlighted what he called Iran's very unreasonable actions in resuming enrichment activities and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent hostile statements about Israel. There is now stronger and more serious concern across the board internationally, and that has helped us and is more likely to put Iran in the dock, Straw said.

But even Straw held out hope that the effort to push the Iran crisis into the Security Council would persuade Iran to return to the negotiating table with the EU-3. Such talks could provide a path for Iran to normalize economic ties with the international community, including joining the World Trade Organization, Straw said.

They need normalization of relations with the rest of the world, Straw said. The EU-3 … offer a route through, [but] it has to be through serious, grown-up negotiations.

Times staff writers Kim Murphy in Moscow and Janet Stobart in London contributed to this report.