The Deadline Passes

September 1, 2006

The Age / Australia http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Iran-must-face-consequences-Bush/2006/09/01/1156817061580.html#

Iran
said on Friday that talks were the only way to end a standoff with the
West over its nuclear ambitions but repeated a defiant line that it
would not give up sensitive atomic work as demanded by the United
Nations.

The UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Thursday that Tehran had failed to meet an August 31 deadline to halt uranium enrichment.

"The
Islamic Republic of Iran believes the only possible way to achieve fair
and acceptable results for all parties is through negotiations and by
respecting Iran's legitimate rights," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid
Reza Asefi said.

"Iran's
activities are transparent, public and have peaceful aims far away from
any ambiguities and it (the issue) can be easily solved through
negotiations," he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

The West accuses Iran of seeking to build atomic bombs, a charge Iran denies, saying its nuclear program is designed to produce electricity.

The
IAEA report also said Iran had recently resumed enriching small amounts
of uranium and said Iran's lack of cooperation had blocked the UN
atomic watchdog's probes.

Asefi said the report showed Iran had met its commitments under international regulations, including the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and also showed Iran's "extensive cooperation" with the IAEA.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated his defiant line on Friday, vowing never to give up Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"Islamic Republic of Iran
will never retreat from its certain rights to peaceful nuclear
activities," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying on state television.

"The claims of the Western countries who say Iran seeks nuclear weapons are sheer lies because we do not need nuclear weapons," he said.

The
final say in all matters of state, such as the nuclear issue, lies with
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rather than the president. But
Khamenei has also insisted that Iran will press ahead with its nuclear plans.

One parliamentarian also struck a defiant tone.

"A
plan is under study in the parliament's foreign policy committee saying
that if the UN Security Council wants to deprive the Iranian nation
from its definite rights, we will stop all of the IAEA inspections in
Iran," the head of parliament's foreign policy committee, Allaeddin
Boroujerdi, said in remarks carried by IRNA.

Meanwhile, in Lappeenranta, Finland, European Union foreign ministers indicated they wanted more dialogue with Iran rather than immediate sanctions.

At a two-day informal meeting near Finland's border with Russia, ministers were expected to seek fresh talks despite US pressure for a rapid move to impose punitive sanctions.

They were also due to discus how to use the aftermath of the Lebanon
war to promote a revival of Middle East peace efforts as thousands of
European peacekeepers head for a dangerous mission of policing a buffer
zone between Israel and Hizbollah fighters.

"Unfortunately Iran
has show that ... for the moment at least it doesn't plan to cooperate
on the nuclear issue and it's clear that on a matter of such importance
the international community cannot stand idly by," EU External
Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.

"But
at the same time we also said we want a diplomatic solution, so
therefore I hope that the channels of communication can be still kept
open," she told a news conference.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told Reuters he hoped to meet Iran's
chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, in the coming days to seek a
clear answer to major power proposals for broad cooperation if Tehran halts uranium enrichment.

An EU
diplomat said they were tentatively due to meet in Berlin next Tuesday,
one day before six major powers meet in the German capital to chart
next steps in the standoff with Iran.

An EU official said Finland, which holds the 25-nation bloc's rotating presidency, did not want any substantial discussion of sanctions at the Lappeenranta meeting.

_______

Bush calls Iran a threat after snub of N-deadline

September 1, 2006

Washington Post / Seattle Times / wire services http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003238760_iran01.html

A defiant Iran
faced the prospect of economic sanctions after U.N. inspectors reported
the country had ignored Thursday's deadline to halt its nuclear program
and was hindering efforts to determine whether it sought to secretly
develop nuclear weapons.

President Bush called Iran a "grave threat" and said "there must be consequences" for Tehran's actions. "It is time for Iran to make a choice," Bush said in a speech to the American Legion's national convention in Salt Lake City.

His administration had offered to join talks with Iran and held out the possibility of future cooperation after 27 years enmity, if Tehran met the U.N. deadline for suspending its nuclear program. Thursday, however, U.S. officials said they will demand international sanctions against the Iranian government.

"We
are going to move this toward a sanctions resolution at the United
Nations," said R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political
affairs.

Sanctions uncertain

It is unclear how much support the White House has for the tough measures it hopes will force Iran
to abandon a nuclear effort that has become a source of national pride.
No world leader who commented on Thursday's events spoke in the stark
terms that Bush used, and none of the president's closest allies said
sanctions were a certainty.

European officials expressed dismay with Iran
but emphasized a commitment to negotiations; they scheduled a meeting
next week with Ali Larijani, the Iranian government's point man on
nuclear issues. European diplomats will meet with Burns the next day in
Berlin.

Since his 2002 State of the Union speech, when Bush singled out Iran as part of an "axis of evil," he has tried without success to roll back Tehran's nuclear energy program. He has asserted, without offering proof, that it is a cover for weapons development.

Iran
has insisted that the nuclear program, which it kept hidden for 18
years, is for the production of energy, which it has a right to develop.

"The
Iranian nation will not accept for one moment any bullying, invasion
and violation of its rights," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said. He called the United States government "tyrannical." His foreign minister said Iran's program is peaceful and will continue.

In
Thursday's report, nuclear inspectors with the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) detailed circumstantial evidence that suggests Iran is still concealing aspects of is nuclear program.

Lack of cooperation

In
just six pages, the inspectors complained 18 times about Iran's lack of
cooperation, including refusing to hand over crucial documents, denying
access to facilities, and a new policy of rejecting certain entry visas
for some inspectors. As a result, inspectors said, they could not
confirm "the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program."

But IAEA officials noted that they have not found proof of a weapons program and said Iran
is still complying with basic, mandatory inspections that allow the
agency to monitor all of its work with uranium. That access enabled the
IAEA to report that Iran had "not suspended its enrichment related activities," as the Security Council required it to do by Thursday.

Inspectors reported that since April, when Iran
began enriching uranium in a string of centrifuges, it has produced
about six kilograms of uranium to levels consistent with an energy
program.

The material cannot be used for a weapon. Iran
began enriching another small quantity last week, but inspectors wrote
that there have been more substantial pauses than progress. They noted
that the Iranians are working at a much slower pace than the IAEA,
outside nuclear experts and some foreign intelligence agencies had
forecast.