VIENNA, 18 January 2006 — World powers appeared split yesterday on how to handle the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program, with Russia and China resisting European and US pressure for UN action and Tehran threatening reprisals.
In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman said he retained hope of a diplomatic solution in what one high-ranking official described as a “gradual sustained buildup” of pressure on Iran that could avert UN sanctions.
The official dismissed as “vacuous” an offer by Tehran to resume talks this month, but conceded that there would be a “great deal of diplomacy to pursue” in order to build an international consensus to bring Iran into line.
Russia meanwhile said sanctions were not the best way forward, while China said it hoped for a return to the negotiating table.
Signs of a split have emerged since a closed-door meeting Monday in London between Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China.
The talks were called after Iran, defying the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), broke seals on a nuclear facility last week in order to resume research on uranium enrichment after a voluntary suspension.
After the talks, the European trio, who have led negotiations with Iran, called for a board meeting of the UN’s Vienna-based IAEA Feb. 2-3. Enriched uranium can be fuel for civilian nuclear reactors, but in a highly enriched form also the raw material for a bomb.
The IAEA, which has been investigating Iran for three years over US charges that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons, has the power to refer the case to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
But diplomats said the London talks were inconclusive.
“The Chinese and Russians are still formulating their own tactics of what to do at the board meeting,” a British Foreign Office spokesman said.
A European diplomat close to the IAEA said that while Russia had previously agreed not to block referral to the Security Council, “the Russians are backing off, it seems to me.” Iran vowed to put an end to tough UN inspections and fully resume nuclear fuel work if its case is referred.
Its ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asgar Soltaniyeh, also said the decision to kick start nuclear research was “irreversible.”
“As I said recently, if Iran’s nuclear case leaves the framework of the IAEA for the Security Council, the government ... will end voluntary cooperation,” he told the ISNA news agency.
He said this included an end to a voluntary suspension of certain nuclear fuel work. Reprisals would also include Tehran not implementing the additional protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which gives greater power to IAEA inspectors.
