Iranians dig in heels over nuvlear enrichment issue

Iranians today stuck by their refusal to suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition for talks on its nuclear programme despite Western insistence that Tehran commit to the step as demanded by the UN Security Council.

The government issued no statement today – the Iranian weekend – after German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier added his voice to Western statements faulting Iran for its response to an international incentives package aimed at getting Tehran to roll back on its programme.

Steinmeier told reporters in Brussels, Belgium, that Iran wants guarantees that it won’t face sanctions before it is prepared to restart negotiations. Steinmeier called the condition unacceptable.

The European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he would seek talks with the Iranians to clarify their response.

Although there was no government statement today, hardline cleric Ahmad Khatami said Iran was open to negotiations over the nuclear issue but will not bow to threats by the United States and its European allies into suspending uranium enrichment.

Khatami urged Russia and China, both of whom wield veto power on the Security Council, not to “fall in the trap of the US".

“The spirit of Iran’s response is ‘yes’ to logical dialogue without precondition. No one can talk to Iran with the language of threats,” Khatami said during a sermon broadcast on state-run radio.

On Tuesday, Tehran presented its long-awaited response to a package of Western incentives, drawn up by the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany, to get Iran to roll back its nuclear programme.

The response was given to Western ambassadors ahead of an August 31 Security Council deadline to halt uranium enrichment or face economic and political sanctions.

Iran said it was prepared for “serious negotiations” but did not agree to the key component of the incentives package – halting uranium enrichment – as a precondition to talks, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, vice speaker of Iran’s parliament, told the semi-official Iranian Student News Agency.

“If a will is going to be imposed on us, we will be ready to pay the price for defending our rights,” Bahonar said.

The United States, Germany and France have said Iran’s response did not appear to meet UN demands. French President Jacques Chirac called Tehran’s response a “little ambiguous.”

Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes and is aimed at generating electric power, but the US and many of its European allies suspect Iran wants enriched uranium to manufacture nuclear weapons.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appealed to Iranian national pride in defending the country’s right to pursue nuclear power, skilfully playing to deeply held Iranian feelings that the United States is infringing on a legitimate national goal.

In Tokyo, Japan, Iran’s reformist ex-president, Mohammad Khatami also defended Iran’s “legitimate right” to develop nuclear energy.

“Our nuclear programme is a peaceful one completely,” Khatami said. “We are not trying to create an international crisis.”

As the Security Council deadline looms, some Iranians have warned that the United States would bolster the position of Iranian hardliners if it pushes forward with sanctions.

Lawmaker Hamid Reza Hajbabaei said if sanctions are imposed, it would provoke greater tension in the Middle East.

“America’s adventurist policy in seeking sanctions against Iran simply is harmful to all. In Iran, it will even strengthen the voice of extremists who want Iran’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and weaken the voice of moderates,” he said.

He also urged the United States and other Western countries not to overlook this opportunity to have talks with Iran over its nuclear policy.

“Iran has sent a clear message: we stand ready for dialogue for a peaceful solution. Given Iran’s detailed response, the US and its allies should not ignore this chance for negotiation,” Hajbabaei said.

The US has said it would await the August 31 deadline before seeking any new measures to coerce or punish Iran.

To do that, however, Washington would have to win over China and Russia, both of which appear unwilling to go along with sanctions. China is shopping around for more oil to fuel its economic boom, and Russia has long-term commercial and economic ties to Iran.

Today, Russian Vice Premier Sergei Ivanov said Russia will continue to pursue a political resolution of the Iranian nuclear dispute and that it is premature to consider imposing sanctions.

“Talk about sanctions is premature and inexpedient, to say the least,” Ivanov said in the Far Eastern city of Magadan, according to the news agency ITAR-Tass. “In any case, Russia will keep pressing for a political and diplomatic settlement coupled with full and strict observance of all non-proliferation regimes.”

Government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham, meanwhile, said today that Iran will soon announce progress it has made with peaceful nuclear technology, IRNA reported.

No details were released, but tomorrow, Ahmadinejad is to visit a 40-megawatt heavy-water nuclear facility in the central Iranian town of Arak, which critics have said raises suspicions about Iran’s nuclear activities.