Russia Hesitates to Act on Iran

Russia wants the International Atomic Energy Agency to hold off on a formal referral of Iran to the United Nations Security Council, a move that could lead to sanctions, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Wednesday.

Solana, speaking to reporters in Washington, said he believed Russia wanted to use a planned meeting with the Iranians next month to seek a compromise in the dispute over the Islamic nation’s resumption of research on the nuclear fuel cycle.

Russia’s reluctance to act quickly against Iran contrasted with remarks by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said Wednesday after meeting with Solana that “there’s not much to talk about” unless Iran halted nuclear activity.

Russia’s proposal also put it at odds with the European Union and the U.S., which have called for an emergency meeting Feb. 2 of the International Atomic Energy Agency to consider sending the issue to the Security Council. The IAEA, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency, has agreed to the meeting.

Russia, a veto-holding member of the Security Council, supports debating the issue in the council but wants to “continue discussions in Vienna and wait to take the final decision of referral” until a regularly scheduled meeting of the IAEA in March, Solana said.

Solana was cool to the Russian proposal, which he said was raised at a meeting Monday in London that included officials from the EU, U.S., China and Russia.

“The action of the Iranians requires a response. It has to be rapid,” Solana said.

French and Israeli officials went to Moscow to make the case for such a response.

U.N. member states were reacting to Iran’s decision to break seals placed on its Natanz nuclear facility by the IAEA. Tehran says it wants to enrich fuel for civilian reactors, while the West accuses it of trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, accused the West of acting like the “lord of the world” in denying his country the right to atomic energy.

Rice, during a speech later at Georgetown University, disputed Ahmadinejad’s contention.

“The Iranians want to make this about their rights. It’s not about their rights. It’s about the ability of the international system to trust them with the capabilities and technologies that could lead to a nuclear weapon,” Rice said.

“They have a history with IAEA of not disclosing, of covering their activities, and so no one does trust them with those technologies.”