U.S. Urges Iran to Accept European Nuclear Offer

The United States on Friday urged Iran to accept a European proposal that could stave off a showdown over Iran’s nuclear program by offering Tehran the right to develop civilian nuclear energy if it gives up activities that could be used to make atomic weapons.

But the Tehran government’s initial reaction to the European proposal appeared negative and Washington stopped short of committing itself to the plan.

A senior Bush administration official said the United States was not part of the European offer and had not been asked to help implement it. The official also indicated that the U.S. had not committed itself to waiving penalties against any European company that supplied nuclear fuel to Iran under the agreement, or to backing European security guarantees.

“We agree with the major thrust of this proposal,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “We think it’s a good proposal. However, it’s not our proposal, so there may be details of it that we may not agree with.”

The official declined to spell out the differences.

Nevertheless, the administration believes Iran should accept the proposal, said R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of State for political affairs.

“We think this proposal is a good one for the Iranians to consider, and we would urge that they do so,” he said.

Burns noted that the most important issue for the U.S. was ensuring that Iran not have access to the technology needed to produce civilian fuel or atomic bombs. The European proposal calls for fuel to be produced in other countries, and guarantees that Iran would have a supply for its nuclear power plants.

Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful electricity production. The U.S. alleges that the country has been running a nuclear weapons program under cover of civilian research.

Iran has insisted that it be allowed to continue to enrich uranium, which can be used in either power plants or weapons. On Monday, it triggered concerns by announcing that it would restart its uranium conversion plant in Esfahan. The U.S. and Europe said that doing so would be a breach of an accord reached in November in Paris, in which Iran agreed to freeze its enrichment activity while negotiating permanent economic and political incentives from Europe.

The U.S., France, Germany and Britain have said that if Iran restarts the plant, they will move to have the International Atomic Energy Agency refer the matter to the United Nations Security Council.

The Europeans have called for an IAEA board of governors meeting Tuesday. If the Iranians have not restarted the plant by then, the Europeans probably will seek a resolution urging them not to do so. U.S. and European diplomats declined to say whether they believed they would have the votes to send the matter to the U.N. for action.

“I don’t think we’re there yet,” the senior U.S. official said. “What I do sense is a strong reaction this week internationally, not just the United States and Europe, to this Iranian brinkmanship .... Have you seen a single country defend Iran this week?”

Iranian officials Friday showed no indication that they intended to back down on their promise to restart the Esfahan plant.

In Tehran, Hossein Mousavian, a senior nuclear negotiator, was quoted by the Mehr news agency as calling the European proposal “worthless.” Other government officials said Iran would study the proposal and issue a response quickly, perhaps as early as Sunday.

The Europeans gave a promise to recognize Iran’s rights under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty “to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy without discrimination,” said a French diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Europeans also have offered to support Iran in developing “safe, economically viable and proliferation-proof civil nuclear power.”

This represents a face-saving concession to the Iranians, who have insisted that other countries cannot deny them the right to develop civilian nuclear technology.

But Europe cannot promise to deliver fuel unless the U.S. agrees not to penalize the European companies involved, and Tehran is unlikely to accept the offer unless such an American promise is spelled out, said George Perkovich, who follows Iranian nuclear issues at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

No one but President Bush can make the decision to waive the sanctions, and it is uncertain whether he would do so, Perkovich said.

Under the 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, foreign firms doing business with Iran could be subject to penalties including denial of access to U.S. financing and export restrictions.