Iran Digs In on Nuclear Program

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Sunday said his country stood ready to increase the scale of its uranium enrichment if its nuclear program was formally put before the United Nations Security Council this week.

Appearing relaxed and confident during a Tehran news conference despite mounting pressure from the international community, negotiator Ali Larijani said Iran was willing to talk about many aspects of its nuclear program but would not suspend the small-scale enrichment activities that it began last month.

He spoke on the eve of a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna and on the same day that the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John R. Bolton, said that Iran faced “tangible and painful consequences” if it did not bow to the wishes of the international community and cease enrichment.

Fielding questions for nearly two hours, Larijani contended that Iran’s program was only for peaceful purposes permitted under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and that Tehran had no secret aims to produce nuclear weapons.

“Nuclear research is Iran’s right, and we are not going to give that up,” he said.

Iran has been seeking to convince the international community that negotiations under the rubric of the IAEA should be given more time to succeed.

Once the issue is at the Security Council, the five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- could work to impose sanctions on Iran’s government, although diplomats say that is not expected to take place right away.

Such measures would be counterproductive, Larijani argued, saying they would compel Iran to reduce its cooperation with the IAEA and step up its fledgling enrichment activities.

“If the nuclear dossier is reported ... we will certainly resume uranium enrichment. We wished to reach conclusion and eliminate the ambiguities through dialogue and understanding. But, if the other side resorts to force, we will use our own approach,” he added.

Larijani hinted that Iran might react by restricting its oil exports to drive up international prices.

“If conditions change, this may become effective,” he said.

In spite of Iran’s show of calm, the country has been in overdrive to convince the international community that it does not deserve to be put under a sanctions regime.

Larijani held talks in Moscow and Vienna in recent days, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad toured the Muslim countries of Malaysia and Kuwait to drum up sympathy for Iran’s position.

Tehran says it is willing in principle to accept Moscow’s offer to have uranium enriched on an industrial scale on Russian soil at a joint facility, as long as Iran will eventually be allowed to do so on its own territory. It accuses the United States of trying to sabotage the Russian plan.

Western countries, however, say they do not trust Iran to limit enrichment to the level needed for energy production. With a few adjustments, the enrichment process that produces civilian fuel can be used to make weapons-grade material.

U.S. and European diplomats say Iran crossed a red line when it abandoned a moratorium on nuclear activities in January.

Uranium enrichment and nuclear research for energy purposes are permitted under the nonproliferation treaty, but IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has said he cannot be sure that Iran has no military intentions for its program.

Iran has argued that ElBaradei has no proof of a military program after three years of investigation and that Iran’s treaty rights should not be suspended based on suspicions.

Iranian public opinion seems to be mainly behind the government’s position that enrichment is the nation’s legitimate right.

But there is also an undercurrent of worry among ordinary Iranians about the effects that any possible sanctions might have on the economy, and some wonder why the government has been so insistent on pushing the issue.

On Sunday, thousands of Iranians attended a government-inspired rally outside Tehran to back the regime, and the Tehran Times, an English-language official newspaper, warned that Iran might cease all cooperation over the nuclear issue.

“Iran may have no option but to abandon the Nonproliferation Treaty and end the inspections,” the newspaper warned.