Blair Backs U.N. Referral on Iran Nuclear Issue

Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that Britain would support referring any breach of nuclear agreements by Iran to the U.N. Security Council, where the Islamic Republic could face economic or political sanctions.

“Those international rules are there for a reason. They have to be adhered to,” Blair said at his first Downing Street news conference since his reelection last week.

The warning to Tehran comes after a similarly tough letter sent by the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany. The three European Union countries have been negotiating with Iran to get it to abandon its uranium enrichment program in exchange for incentives that would include closer economic cooperation with Europe and the world community.

The foreign ministers’ letter, addressed to Hassan Rowhani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said the Tehran government would pay a price if it resumed nuclear enrichment, as the country has been threatening to do in recent weeks. The process can be used to produce reactor fuel or, at a higher level, material for bombs.

Iran maintains that its uranium enrichment program is for civilian energy purposes, as permitted under international law. But the United States and Europe suspect that Tehran has been trying to developing nuclear weapons in violation of a nonproliferation treaty to which it is party.

Blair’s remarks and the foreign ministers’ letter appeared to be part of a last-ditch effort to convince Iran that it should not resume nuclear enrichment activities.

There were reports Wednesday that Iranian officials had already sent a representative to Vienna carrying a letter to formally notify the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency of its intention to end the suspension, but that it held off delivering it after the Europeans’ warning of possible Security Council action.

On Thursday, the head of Iran’s nuclear energy organization said that Iran may further hold off resuming its nuclear activities.

“No certain day is fixed for resumption of reprocessing. It is possible to postpone it some days,” Gholamreza Aghazadeh said on state-run TV in Tehran, Associated Press reported.

Some analysts say the heightened political climate in Iran ahead of next month’s presidential election is a factor in the brinkmanship. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, considered more pragmatic in dealings with the West, has joined the fray against hard-line candidates.

The United States has argued in favor of referring Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions.

But in recent months President Bush agreed to work with European allies to see whether a diplomatic effort that included some economic incentives could persuade Iran to end its program. The Europeans, in turn, promised to support tough action if negotiations failed.

“Let’s wait and see what actually happens, but we certainly will support referral to the U.N. Security Council if Iran breaches its undertakings and obligations,” Blair told reporters at Thursday’s news conference when asked about Iran.

“Quite how that will come about, we have got to work out with our colleagues and allies.”

Blair said he endorsed statements by Bush indicating that no military action was being contemplated against Iran’s nuclear facilities, but no options were being taken off the table.

“What President Bush is saying is perfectly sensible -- you can’t say you are taking options off the table -- but what he went on to say -- I think very sensibly too -- is that nobody is talking about invasions of Iran or military action against Iran,” he said. “We have to make sure that this diplomatic process works, and we will fight very hard to do that.”

Also Thursday, Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary, told BBC Radio that a sense of urgency surrounded the issue.

“We do take it seriously now very close to the twelfth hour, but we hope very much that they do appreciate that this [resumption] is far from a good idea for themselves as well as for the international community,” he said.

Straw said that if Iran pushed ahead, it risked jeopardizing the benefits of the economic negotiations of the last year. The U.S. has already agreed to drop opposition to Iran’s membership in the World Trade Organization and to lift embargoes on items such as air safety equipment.

“Those unquestionably will be lost because they were part of the negotiations taking place in the context in which Iran had agreed as a clear but categorical confidence-building measure to maintain its suspension of uranium enrichment,” Straw said.