Iran warns UN of 'confrontation'

TEHRAN: Iran vowed on Sunday it would refuse to comply with any United Nations Security Council demand to halt its disputed nuclear programme and warned the crisis was leading the two sides towards a "confrontation".

 

Asked how Iran would respond if the council adopted a tough resolution drafted by Britain and France, foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said that Iran "will certainly reject it and cannot carry it out".

 

"We will not accept any resolution that is against our rights," he told reporters.

 

The two European powers, backed by the United States, have asked the council to approve a text that would legally require Iran to freeze uranium enrichment and reprocessing activity.

 

Iran says it wants to enrich uranium to make nuclear fuel, though the process can be extended to make weapons. 

 

"Any action by the Security Council will have a negative influence on our cooperation with the agency," Asefi told reporters, repeating Iran's threat to halt International Atomic Energy Agency inspections.

 

"The involvement of the Security Council will direct the path of cooperation towards confrontation," he said, warning that the Security Council would not be able to enforce its demands.

 

"It's obvious that the Security Council should not take any action that it is not capable of dealing with later, because we will not refrain from our rights," Asefi said.

 

"A suspension and pause (of enrichment) is not on the agenda at all, and the Security Council should not do something that will get it into trouble later on."

 

Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also signalled Iran could quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if pressure mounted.

 

"If the signature of a treaty threatens the rights of a nation, it has no validity for that nation," the ISNA news agency quoted him as telling a gathering of members of Iran's Basij militia.

 

Iranian leaders have already signalled Iran could quit the NPT -- the cornerstone of the global effort against the spread of nuclear weapons -- if the country comes under more pressure to halt sensitive nuclear fuel work.

 

Iran argues nuclear fuel work is authorised by the NPT, but the country is accused of seeking to exploit this loophole in the treaty.

 

The hardline-controlled parliament also stepped in by warning it could force the government to definitively put an end to tough IAEA inspections and leave the NPT.

 

"Should the UN secretary general and Security Council members not fulfill their crucial duties in settling arguments, there will be no choice for the Majlis but to demand the government withdraw the ratification of the additional protocol," said a letter signed by more than 160 deputies.   

 

It said the Majlis could "put on the agenda the examination of article 10 of the NPT, which is about leaving the NPT".

 

The moves from Tehran come a day before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hosts her counterparts from six major powers in a bid to find a consensus amid continued opposition to the draft from veto-wielding UN Security Council members.   

 

Russia and China oppose sanctions and the use of force against Iran, their key trading partner, with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak saying the draft UN resolution "requires major changes".   

 

Moscow and Beijing object to the draft's reference to Chapter Seven of the UN charter and its suggestion that the Iranian nuclear program constitutes a threat to international peace and security.

 

Chapter Seven can authorize economic sanctions or military action as a last resort.   

 

United States President George W Bush iterated that he preferred a "diplomatic solution" to the conflict over Iran's nuclear ambitions and threats against Israel, but said that "all options should be placed on the table".  

 

When Ahmadinejad says "that he wants to destroy Israel, the world should take that very seriously," Bush said.

 

The Iranian president has repeatedly called for Israel to be "wiped from the map".   

 

"It's a specific threat against an ally of the United States and Germany," Bush told Bild am Sonntag.