Thursday, 22 June 2006Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has declared the Islamic republic wants to keep hold of its sensitive nuclear fuel technology, in another sign that Tehran is unwilling to bow to international demands for a suspension.
The comments came the day he announced the hardline regime would take until late August to respond to an international initiative aimed at resolving the crisis, despite calls for a prompt answer and threats of UN Security Council action.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meanwhile warned Iran "not to cross the line," saying it would be "intolerable" for its arch enemy to have nuclear arms.
"The nuclear fuel cycle belongs to all Iranians and everyone has a right to use it. All people insist on maintaining this right," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the western province of Hamedan on Thursday.
He also said Iran was "not backing down an iota on its rights" -- a clear reference to the process of enriching uranium, which Iran says it wants to legally exploit to generate energy and not make weapons.
A suspension of enrichment is a non-negotiable precondition in a proposal from the five permanent UN Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.
The offer presented to Iran on June 6 involves incentives and multilateral talks if Iran agrees to temporarily halt the activity and cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Diplomats say Iran was asked to reply by June 29, just before world leaders gather in Saint Petersburg for a G8 summit.
But Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that it would take until August 22 to answer -- prompting immediate telephone consultations between the foreign ministries of the six powers.
"The delay suits Iran for two reasons: tactically, they want to pass the G8 meeting, and from an internal point of view there may be structural difficulties within the regime to take a stragtegic decision," a Western diplomat told АFР.
"Obviously we would like an answer by the end of the month. It looks like buying time, but there may also be a genuine debate within the Iranian leadership regarding a suspension," another diplomat commented, adding that a freeze of enrichment remained "non-negotiable".
"Regardless of the date when they reply, Iran will be the centre of the G8 meeting," the source added.
But several regime insiders said the need for more time was genuine.
"This needs many enormous decisions to reach a concensus within the system whiccle taking into account our national interests," commented Ali Agha Mohammadi, a former national security spokesman.
"It's a very sensitive subject, so it is better not sacrifice precision by being hasty," he added, calling on the European powers to urge Washington to be patient.
And Sadegh Kharazi, a former Iranian ambassador to Paris, told АFР that the regime was probably taking time to work out "a formula to keep enriching but at the same time providing objective guarantees" that it is not seeking weapons.
Nevertheless, China also urged Iran to respond to the offer as soon as possible.
"We believe that an early resumption of the talks on the Iranian nuclear issue as soon as possible is the common aspiration of the international community," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.
And Israel's prime minister fired off a fresh warning.
"The chances of Iran possessing nuclear weapons is intolerable," Olmert told Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel during an informal chat on the sidelines of a Nobel laureate in Jordan.
"I hope Iran will understand that this game is serious. They have to understand they can't cross the line," he said.
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Thursday, 22 June 2006
BakuToday
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