US, EU vow to hold Tehran to account as Iran issues warning

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US and the EU vowed to hold Iran to account for its disputed nuclear program but Tehran warned that it would stop cooperating with UN inspectors if a decision is taken to refer it to the UN Security Council.

The United States and European Union said they would lobby for Iran's referral to the UN Security Council at an emergency meeting of the UN atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), set for February 2.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the onus was on Iran to defuse mounting international concern over the nature of its nuclear project and dismissed Tehran's latest call for negotiations as disingenuous.

Rice said the message from Washington's European allies, which had been negotiating with Tehran, was "there is not much to talk about" after Iran moved to resume sensitive nuclear research last week.

"I think it's up to the Iranians to demonstrate that they are not just talking but they are serious," Rice told reporters before meeting with Solana at the State Department.

"It was the Iranians who walked away from the negotiations, who broke the moratorium (on nuclear activities)," Rice said of the effort led by Britain, France and Germany to resolve the crisis.

While diplomats predicted the 35-nation governing board of the IAEA would refer Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions, Iran raised the stakes and said it would respond by blocking access to the agency's international inspectors.

Dr Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, said the UN monitoring agency's inspectors would no longer be allowed short-notice access to nuclear facilities and military sites if Tehran's activities were reported to the Security Council.

In an interview on BBC News 24 television late Wednesday, Soltanieh was asked directly whether Iran would halt cooperation if the IAEA board votes for referral.

Echoing views by Iran's national security spokesman Hossein Entemazi, he replied: "I think that is clear...

"All the activities which we are voluntarily doing in accordance with additional protocols, including the complementary accesses (and) short notice access that we have granted... even to the military sites, will not be continued any more."

Iran agreed to an additional protocol in 2003 under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, permitting more intrusive, snap inspections of its nuclear sites.

Soltanieh insisted Iran's program was a purely peaceful effort to generate electricity and accused Western powers of trying to provoke confrontation.

Solana said European and American diplomats would launch an extensive lobbying effort around the world ahead of the emergency meeting of the IAEA board in Vienna to rally support for their stance.

He said the allies had decided on a "division of labor, so that every member of the board of governors is aware of the importance of the decisions which are going to be taken in the extraordinary meeting."

The current crisis began when Iran said earlier this month that it was ending a voluntary moratorium on sensitive nuclear research linked to uranium enrichment. Western governments suspect Iran is pursuing a clandestine program to develop nuclear weapons and want Tehran to give up ambitions to produce its own nuclear fuel.

Britain, France and Germany requested the IAEA session after meeting in London on Monday with officials from the United States, China and Russia and following the collapse of negotiations with Iran.

But the US-EU bid to pressure Iran could falter as Russia and China, two of the council's five veto-wielding permanent members, remain reluctant to support eventual UN sanctions against Iran.

Solana told reporters that Russia, which has offered to handle Iran's uranium-enrichment work on its soil as a control measure, was trying to buy some more time for it to negotiate with Tehran.

He said Moscow wanted the UN Security Council to informally discuss the case before an official decision on a UN referral. The Russians also saw no need for the IAEA to meet before its regularly scheduled session on March 6.

Rice said talks were continuing with Beijing and Moscow. "I think both expressed their very great concern about what Iran has done, and we'll continue to work with them on a future course," she said.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres urged major powers to present a united front against Iran, a regime he said posed "the greatest danger in our time."

"Unless there is a united policy to stop the Iranians from developing not only nuclear capacity, but also long-range missiles ... the danger of Iran will grow in size and scope and in time," Peres said.

Sidestepping a question as to whether Israel would take military action to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Peres said the Jewish state was content to have the United States and its allies lead a diplomatic effort.

But he warned that if the countries opposing Tehran fail to forge a consensus, "the Iranians will make a mockery of every announced declaration by any party."