Annan presses Iran on nuclear and Hezbollah issues

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan began talks today pressing Iran over two major issues – to help ensure a halt in weapons shipments to Tehran’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah and to compromise in its nuclear confrontation with the West.

His visit to Tehran comes two days after Iran failed to meet a UN deadline for suspending its enrichment o uranium, paving the way to possible sanctions against the Islamic republic, which the West fears is seeking to develop atomic weapons.

But Europe is launching a last-ditch attempt at negotiations with Tehran this week, and Annan said in a newspaper interview before arriving that he hoped for a diplomatic solution that would avoid sanctions and “another conflict in a region already subjected to a great stress at this moment.”

The tone from Annan’s first meetings in Tehran today was positive. Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said his talks with the UN chief were “constructive” and that “both sides agreed that problems should be solved through negotiations.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki expressed Iranian backing for the UN ceasefire resolution in Lebanon, which call for the halting of weapons to Hezbollah – though he did not directly address that issue.

“Iran has supported the Lebanese consensus on the resolution. UN can improve tranquility on (Lebanon’s) border by participation of players there,” he said, according to the state Islamic Republic News Agency.

Still, Annan is likely to face an uphill battle on both issues. Just ahead of Annan’s arrival, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today vowed his country would forge ahead with its nuclear programme despite US pressure. Annan will meet Ahmadinejad tomorrow.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will hold talks early next week with Larijani.

After an EU foreign ministers meeting in Finland, delegates said there was no deadline for the talks to produce results but warned it would not give Iran much time to resolve the stand-off.

“We need some sessions – one or two, not more – to clarify some of the issues,” Solana said at a news conference.

In Tehran, Larijani said: “Annan’s stance for solving the nuclear problems is positive.”

In his interview with France’s Le Monde daily, Annan said: “I do not believe that sanctions are the solution to all problems,” when asked about America’s desire to impose sanctions on Iran.

“There are moments when a bit of patience produces lots of effects. I think that is a quality we must exercise more often,” he said.

On the Lebanese front, Annan told Le Monde he wants Iran to work with the international community, using its influence so Hezbollah can be disarmed in accordance with the UN ceasefire resolution 1701.

Iran and Hezbollah deny that Tehran supplies weapons to the guerrillas. But many in the West, Israel and the Arab world believe Iran provided a large arsenal of rockets, including long-range ones that were used to hit Haifa and other Israeli cities during 34 days of Hezbollah-Israel fighting in August and July.

“I am very happy to be here in Tehran, to discuss implementation of resolution 1701, which deals with the situation in Lebanon. I will also expect to discuss issues of concern in this region to the international community,” Annan said.

A day earlier, Annan was in Syria, Hezbollah’s other top ally. He said he secured a promise from Syrian President Bashar Assad to increase border patrols and work with Lebanese troops to thwart the arms flow to Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon.

But the promise was met with immediate scepticism from Israel and some in Lebanon.

UN resolution 1701, which halted the 34-day Israeli-Hezbollah fighting on August 14, calls on countries not to supply weapons to any parties other than the Lebanese government.

Italian soldiers moved into Lebanon today, part of the first large contingent of international troops dispatched to boost the UN force keeping the peace between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

Ahmadinejad maintained his tough tone on the nuclear issue today, saying that “hyperbole against Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities by Western countries especially the US will continue ... But the resistance and awareness of this nation will defuse all these plots.”

“Avaricious powers can’t create any obstacles on the way to the progress of our nation,” Ahmadinejad told a crowd in the town of Miandoab in north-western Iran.

The UN Security Council had set the deadline over enrichment on July 31 and had asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to report on Tehran’s compliance, dangling the threat of sanctions if Iran defied its will.

The agency said on Thursday that Iran had not suspended its uranium enrichment and that three years of probing had been unable to confirm “the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme” because of lack of co-operation from Tehran.

Sanctions could include travel bans on Iranian officials or a ban on the sale of dual-use nuclear technology to Iran.

Still, with permanent veto-wielding council members Russia and China opposed to quick and harsh penalties because of their strong trade ties with Iran, the likelihood of immediate punitive measures appears in doubt.

Iran says it wants to develop a full-scale enrichment programme to generate electricity, but there is growing suspicion the oil-rich country wants to misuse enrichment to create fissile material for nuclear warheads.