Iran determined to push ahead with nuclear programme
Iranian officials insisted the country was determined to push ahead with its nuclear program but were silent today over a new package of incentives to give up uranium enrichment amid intensified world pressure to accept the deal.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tehran must respond quickly to the offer agreed on by the big powers at the UN Security Council, plus Germany, in an unprecedented unified front.
Otherwise, she warned, Iran would face UN sanctions.
Iranian state media were dismissive of Thursday’s gathering in Vienna of the United States, Russia, China, France, Great Britain and Germany but gave no reaction to the package.
“The noisy 5+1 meeting ended without a new proposal for Iran,” state television commented during its report on yesterday’s gathering in Vienna.
Details of the offer have not been made public, and a senior US state department official in Vienna said the Iranians will be given the package in the next few days.
Diplomats in Vienna said the deal outlines incentives for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and return to the negotiating table.
The United States announced earlier this week that it would enter direct talks with Iran if it agrees to the suspension.
Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran’s nuclear programme, was quoted today as ruling out the US condition.
“Tehran is determined to conclude its peaceful nuclear programme,” he said, according to the ISNA news agency. “The Iranian people will not allow us to suspend enrichment.”
“The conditions set by the US for joining talks with Iran were a big insult to the Iranian nation,” he said.
“Accepting the US conditions is almost impossible.”
Saeedi was responding to the US demand for a suspension of enrichment before any direct negotiations between the two countries.
The ISNA report did not say when he spoke, and it was not known if it was before or after the agreement on the package in Vienna was announced.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also took a tough tone, indirectly blaming Israel for the impasse.
“Some states who have not sgned the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty want to deprive us from our obvious rights,” state television quoted him as saying. It did not say when he spoke and he did not mention the Vienna deal.
But Iranian analyst conceded that the mounting pressure narrows Iran’s room to manoeuvre – particular after its long-time allies Russia and China signed onto the deal.
“Such unprecedented unity in the international community, including the representatives of Russia and China, has put Iranian officials in an awkward position. They need more time to make decision,” political analyst Mostafa Mirzaian said.
Throughout the international impasse over Iran’s nuclear programme, Russia and China – major trading partners for Iran – have called for a diplomatic solution.
The US, Britain and France, who have called for strong measures, need the cooperation of Russia and China to take such a step.
Iranian television, citing a report by the Chinese official news agency Xianhua, said China’s foreign minister reassured his Iranian counterpart in a telephone conversation that Beijing will support all efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomacy.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said today he was optimistic Iran would accept.
“We are hopeful that the Iranian side, acting with a sentiment of responsibility and fastidiousness, will examine the proposal and that a positive approach will emerge,” he said.
France and the European Union also called for Iran to quickly take the offer.
Uranium enrichment is a crucial process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material needed for a bomb.
The US and severalEuropean countries believe Iran is using its civilian nuclear programme as a cover to produce nuclear weapons.
Tehran has denied this, saying its nuclear programme is merely to generate electricity, not bombs.
Iran has said it will not give up its right under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel.
Iran announced April 11 that it had enriched uranium for the first time, using 164 centrifuges. Enrichment can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or material for a warhead – but tens of thousands of centrifuges are needed to do either on a large scale.
