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Iran Plans Uranium Enrichment, U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Says
Iran’s resumed nuclear research activities include plans for uranium enrichment, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 10). An agency statement says it learned from Iranian officials that uranium hexafluoride would “be fed into cascades” of centrifuges at the Natanz research site in what Tehran described as small-scale enrichment. The facility has space for up to 50,000 centrifuges, the Associated Press reported. Iran is believed, however, to have only a few hundred centrifuges, according to AP (Associated Press, Jan. 10). Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said today that his country would not give up its nuclear program, despite Western opposition, Agence France-Presse reported. “No Iranian will be ready to give up our rights, and they should know that we will remain firm,” Rafsanjani said. He reiterated Tehran’s position that the program is not aimed at producing atomic weapons. “During the worst situation that we were under chemical weapons attack (during the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88), we did not use such inhumane weapons. We are not seeking nuclear weapons,” he said. “By attacking us they (the West) want to keep us underdeveloped,” he added (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Jan. 11). The Russian Foreign Ministry today noted a phone exchange between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in which both expressed a “deep disappointment” with Iran’s decision to resume sensitive nuclear activities, AP reported (Associated Press, Jan. 11). The State Department yesterday condemned Iran’s move, AFP reported yesterday. “We view this as a serious escalation on the part of Iran on the nuclear issue,” said spokesman Sean McCormack. “What you see is the international community coming out and sending a very clear message to Iran that their behavior is unacceptable.” McCormack said convening an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency board was “certainly an option” as a next step in the showdown. “I think we are entering a period of intense diplomatic activity on this question,” a State Department official said. “There are intense discussions at the political director level and I would expect that you will see more and more discussions at the minister level.” British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called for a meeting with his French and German counterparts tomorrow to discuss the possibility of referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Jan. 10). However, Straw said there would be no military action against Iran, the London Evening Standard reported today. “Military action is not on our agenda. I don’t believe, in practice, it is on anyone else’s agenda,” he said (Paul Waugh, Evening Standard, Jan. 11). The White House also played down the possibility of military action against Iran, United Press International reported. “I think the president has made it pretty clear, he said previously Iran is not Iraq,” said spokesman Scott McClellan. “We are working with the international community to resolve this in a peaceful and diplomatic manner. That’s what we've been doing and that’s what we continue to do.” “In terms of options, you know the president has already addressed that. The president has made it clear we never take options off the table,” he added (United Press International, Jan. 11). Even if Iran’s case is referred to the Security Council, persuading key members Russia and China to vote for sanctions remains a difficult proposition, the Financial Times reported today. “No one is talking in terms of sanctions. No one is rushing into sanctions at the moment,” said one Western diplomat. He added, however, that Russia was less likely to oppose referring the issue to the Security Council after Iran’s decision to restart nuclear work. Western countries should not expect much more than a “rebuke” of Iran from the council, said Cliff Kupchan, an analyst at the Eurasia Group. Other analysts said the United States was likely to press its allies in Europe and Asia to impose sanctions on Iran independent of any U.N. action. Washington is also moving to penalize and restrict any entities found to be assisting Iran’s nuclear program, according to the Times (Guy Dinmore, Financial Times, Jan. 11).
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