PARIS -
If Iran really wants a showdown over its nuclear
program, it is going the right way about it.
"Like a sumo wrestler, Iran has oiled itself for
a further fight with both the European Union's three big
powers and the International Atomic Energy Agency," an
Iranian journalist who covers meetings of the
Vienna-based United Nations watchdog IAEA told Asia
Times Online, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Tehran said on Sunday that it will resume
construction of centrifuges for uranium enrichment, but
continue to suspend enrichment itself, a key step in
making what can be bomb-grade uranium. Centrifuges
refine crude uranium into bomb-grade material or nuclear
fuel for power stations.
However, Iranian
analysts closely watching Tehran's dispute with the IAEA
over its controversial atomic activities say that Iran
is "very serious" about resuming its uranium-enriching
programs as well.
Last week, Hasan Rohani, the
secretary of the Supreme Council for National Security
(SCNS) and the country's top negotiator with the IAEA
and the Europe's "Big 3" - Britain, France and Germany -
sent them a letter in which he apparently informed them
of Iran's decision to resume enriching uranium, the
issue at the heart of Tehran's row with the IAEA, Europe
and the United States.
Though the contents of
the letter have not been made public, sources told Asia
Times Online that on the basis "that Britain, France and
Germany have not respected their part of the Tehran
Agreement of last October, the Islamic Republic feels
free of its engagements and will resume enriching
uranium and other activities related to producing
nuclear energy for civilian use".
In the October
accord, Iran promised to freeze its enrichment activity.
But now Tehran is angered that its nuclear project
continues to dominate meetings of the IAEA, and says the
Europeans promised to have Iran removed from the agenda
in Vienna, but failed to deliver. Iran's decision also
reflects dismay at the EU three as they co-authored a
recent censure of Tehran at the IAEA.
Iran
argues that under Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
regulations, it is entitled to receive advanced nuclear
technologies and that the "Big 3" had promised to assist
Iran accordingly. All Iranian leaders, insisting that
they are not after the nuclear bomb, repeat this point
constantly, but have dramatically failed to convince the
international community.
Washington, which has
always argued against any compromise with Tehran on the
issue of its nuclear activities and pushed for the
matter to be referred to the United Nations Security
Council for possible sanctions against the Islamic
republic, is skeptical of the European engagement with
Iran, insisting that it will help Tehran to continue its
covert nuclear activities.
Rohani's letter was
preceded by a declaration from Ali Larijani, the former
head of Iran's Radio and Television who now sits on the
SCNS as the personal representative of leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, stating that Iran had "never accepted to
shut down its uranium-enriching programs".
"What
Iran had agreed to was to suspend enriching uranium on a
voluntary basis. This does not mean that we accepted to
put an end to it," he explained, adding that enriching
uranium was Iran's "full and recognized right".
Explaining Iran's position on the nuclear issue
to fellow lawmakers, Rohani informed the majlis
(parliament) on Sunday of the country's decision to
resume manufacture and assembly of centrifuge
components, starting on Tuesday. "We have announced to
the three European countries that the Islamic Republic
of Iran is ready to resume manufacture and assembly
activities on June 29."
The official also
rejected IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei's
allegations of concealment in the republic's nuclear
program. "Mr ElBaradei and the agency had found one
contradiction [in Iran's declaration of its nuclear
program], but they apologized for that and said they
were mistaken," Rohani said.
Foreign Ministry
spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi echoed Rohani's views, saying
the Europeans' failure to honor their pledges had forced
Iran to rethink its cooperation. "Our policy regarding
the International Atomic Energy Agency has not changed
... what has caused a change is the Europeans' failure
to fulfill their pledges. Given that the three European
countries have not honored their commitments according
to the Brussels meeting, we see no reason to keep up our
part of commitment," the official Iranian news agency
IRNA quoted Asefi as saying.
Both officials,
however, stressed that nothing had changed with regard
to IAEA inspectors' free access to Iran's nuclear
facilities. "The agency's inspectors will operate as
before, having access to all facilities and facing no
problems," Asefi assured, adding, "Cooperation must be
bilateral; we prefer the language of understanding and
friendship to the language of threats and intimidation."
Speaking with the pro-conservative Mehr news
agency, Alaeddin Broujerdi, the chairman of the Security
and National Affairs Committee of the majlis said, "We
shall work for finishing with this humiliating attitude
[of the IAEA and Europe] and resume enriching uranium
and if the government does not agree, we shall force it
to come along," and assured Rohani of the "full support"
of the majlis concerning the resumption of uranium
activities.
Expressing disappointment at the
letter, Berlin, London and Paris said they were
preparing a joint response to Iran's announcement that
it was resuming production of centrifuges. "We are
disappointed at the Iranian decision," a Foreign Office
spokesman in London said, adding: "We don't understand
why they've taken this decision."
"The Foreign
Ministry in Berlin regrets the announcement made by the
Iranian authorities," a German spokesman said. In Paris,
a diplomatic source said that France had received the
letter and was consulting the other two states on how to
respond. "We are working together with the British and
the Germans toward a common and coordinated position on
the matter," the French source said.
John
Bolton, the US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control
and International Security said Tehran's letter, also
sent to the IAEA, was proof of Iran's intent to
reprocess uranium as part of a covert nuclear weapons
program. "This is an act of defiance of the IAEA board
of governors, it is a thumb in the eye of the
international community," Bolton told a congressional
committee.
Iran insists its nuclear program is
for civilian purposes, mostly producing much-needed
electricity. "They may react bitterly or heighten
pressure on us, but that is not important," Rohani told
parliament in comments broadcast live on state radio.
According to Iranian observers, Rohani's letter
confirms the progressive shift of the ruling
conservatives from the era of detente initiated by the
powerless President Mohammad Khatami towards a more
radical line in both foreign and domestic scenes.
"That might also explain the capture of the
three British patrol boats and their crew of eight
military servicemen last Monday on the Iranian side of
the Arvand Roud [the Iranian name of the Shat el-Arab
border river between Iran and Iraq]", said Sadeq Saba,
Iran affairs senior commentator of the BBC.
"The
conservatives feel that on the nuclear issue, they have
the support of the majority of the population. At the
same time, based on the long experience they have with
the European Union, they are certain that the Big 3
would not yield to Washington to the point of referring
Iran's nuclear issue to the Security Council," the
unidentified Iranian journalist told Asia Times Online.
In his view, not only do the Europeans not want
to end their traditional policy of critical dialogue
with Tehran, they also understand Iran's power and
influence in the region in general and in Iraq in
particular, and fear that an isolated Iran would be less
cooperative with the international community seeking to
restore peace and security to Iraq and the Middle East.
"Among the different options, the best available
long-term sustainable option is engagement by providing
incentives, as the Euro 3 have already started," a news
report quoted a European diplomat as saying.
In
fact, a joint US-EU statement, issued after talks
between President George W Bush and European leaders in
Ireland on Saturday, stopped short of threatening new
action to punish Iran, but said they were disturbed by
Iran's determination to resume manufacturing and
assembly of centrifuges and called on Iran to rethink
its decision.
In the first Iranian reaction to
the EU-US statement, the hardline Keyhan evening daily,
one of the mouthpieces of Ayatollah Khamenei, repeated
that the authorities might now consider pulling out of
the nuclear NPT.
"The joint statement shows the
true nature and objectives of America and its [European]
allies to deny the Islamic Republic access to nuclear
technology. We shall no doubt reach the point that in
order to safeguard our sovereignty and interests, exit
from the NPT would present itself as the only logical
and legal choice, a decision we should have taken much
earlier, but however it is not late yet," said Hoseyn
Shariatmadari, a high-ranking intelligence ministry
officer specializing in interrogating political and
intellectual dissidents, appointed by Khamenei as the
Keyhan's editor.
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