U.N. Nuclear Agency Faults Iran

Iran has continued to enrich uranium in defiance of a United Nations deadline to halt such work and has offered minimal cooperation with inspectors trying to assess whether its program is for peaceful purposes, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog reported Thursday.

Iran’s defiance, while hardly unexpected, paves the way for the start of Security Council debate over international sanctions against the Islamic Republic; the United States has taken the lead in the campaign to penalize Tehran. China and Russia, both of which have veto power, have expressed misgivings about any move in that direction.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that his country “will not accept for one moment any bullying, invasion and violation of its rights.”

Speaking to a crowd in the northwestern Iranian city of Orumiyeh, he urged defiance, and described the United States as “the main source of the problems of mankind.”

President Bush, speaking in Salt Lake City, described Iran as a “grave threat” to the world and called on other nations to help stop its nuclear efforts. “There must be consequences for Iran’s defiance,” he said. “And we must not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.”

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John R. Bolton said the Security Council would not start discussing possible sanctions until next week, after the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, meets with Ali Larijani, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator.

“We’re certainly ready to proceed here in New York when we’re given the instructions to do so,” Bolton said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency report says Iran continues to enrich uranium at its Natanz facility and still denies inspectors access to individuals who are key to answering questions about Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iran also has refused or delayed requests by inspectors to review records and take uranium samples so that experts can assess the percentage of enrichment Tehran has achieved -- information necessary for evaluating whether Iran’s program might have a military aspect.

Uranium when enriched to low levels can be used to generate electricity, but when more highly enriched, it can be used as the core of an atomic weapon.

The report also raises questions about newly detected highly enriched uranium on equipment tested by inspectors.

There was “no progress at all this summer ... nothing in terms of substantive progress,” said a senior official close to the IAEA, referring to Iran’s failure to answer long-standing questions and assuage fears that it may be attempting to gain the expertise to manufacture a nuclear weapon.

Tehran operated a clandestine nuclear program for 18 years before it was uncovered in 2002. Since then, the Vienna-based IAEA has been trying to learn if it was intended for civilian purposes including the generation of nuclear power, as Iran has said.

Many countries believe Iran is attempting to gain the capability to make a bomb.

The council had set Aug. 31 as the deadline for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment. The senior official said that as of Tuesday, when inspectors last checked, Iran was continuing to feed uranium gas into centrifuges used to isolate an isotope of uranium needed for a nuclear reaction.

So far, Iran has enriched only extremely small amounts of uranium, said the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The U.N. agency’s report says Iran has reported enriching uranium to a level far below what would be required for a bomb. But inspectors have not been able to verify that assertion.

The U.S. has called for the swift enactment of economic sanctions; but with other countries leery of confrontation, it is advocating relatively mild moves initially.

The first step would be a ban on the export of nuclear- or missile-related materials to Iran and perhaps a travel ban or asset freeze for key Iranian officials, U.S. officials said.

Bolton and other State Department officials said they were optimistic about persuading Russia and China to agree to the initial sanctions, citing a July agreement that included the two nations’ foreign ministers indicating support for such steps.

But Russia’s defense minister, Sergei B. Ivanov, said last week that the situation in Iran was “not urgent” and that sanctions were rarely effective.

Moscow’s reticence may be bolstered by the IAEA report, which indicates that Iran has moved slowly to build its pilot enrichment plant and has enriched only very small amounts of uranium.

Russia is unlikely to back a ban on nuclear-related materials because it is Iran’s key partner in building nuclear power plants, diplomats said. Russia and China both have an interest in Iranian oil.

Even France and Germany, usually allied with the United States on Iran policy, appear reluctant to move quickly.

Regarding the newly discovered evidence of contamination by enriched uranium mentioned in the IAEA report, the senior official said the traces had been found on containers at a waste storage site.

The contamination did not resemble previous contamination believed to have come from equipment imported from Pakistan.

“If you’re telling me it doesn’t come from equipment from another country, then it shouldn’t be there,” said a Western diplomat familiar with Iran’s program.

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rubin@latimes.com

maggie.farley@latimes.com*

Rubin reported from Vienna and Farley from the United Nations.

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A program in contention

Thursday’s report: The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency reported that Iran had failed to halt efforts to enrich uranium by the Aug. 31 deadline set by the U.N. Security Council. The Islamic Republic insists that its program aims only to provide fuel for civilian nuclear power plants, but the U.S. and other Western powers fear it will lead to development of nuclear weapons.

Start of the crisis: In August 2002, an Iranian exile group reported the existence of a uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and a heavy-water plant at Arak. Later that year, the Bush administration accused Iran of an “across-the-board pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.”

The EU-3: Three European Union nations -- Britain, France and Germany -- launched negotiations with Tehran; the Bush administration declined to join the talks. In 2003, the EU-3 won agreement from Iran to suspend enrichment activities and allow inspections of nuclear facilities. But two years later, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency reported that Tehran had resumed the conversion of raw uranium into gas at a plant in Esfahan, a step toward enrichment.

International action: Last February, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency voted to report Iran’s nuclear program to the Security Council. In subsequent reports, the agency told the council that it could not verify that Tehran’s atomic activities were peaceful. Iran continued to insist that it had the right to pursue its nuclear program.

What’s next: The U.N. is to debate imposing economic sanctions on Iran.

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Sources: Times staff and wire reports