Iran Warns US of "Harm and Pain" in Nuclear Dispute
Financial Times London

By Daniel Dombey in Vienna,
Gareth Smyth in Tehran and
Roula Khalaf in London >
March 8 2006

Iran threatened the US with “harm and pain” on Wednesday as the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme moved to the United Nations Security Council – an outcome the Islamic republic had fought to avoid.

A war of words at the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, highlighted growing tensions after Washington and the European Union dismissed a push for a compromise this week.

The IAEA board on Wednesday ended its discussions on Iran without agreement – a move that automatically sends the file to the Security Council in New York, which could discuss the topic as early as next week.

Ali-Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to the agency, told the meeting: “The US has the power to cause harm and pain. But the US is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if that is the path that the US wishes to choose, let the ball roll.”

Iran, at an Opec meeting on Wednesday, said it had no intention of reducing oil exports in response to the pressure over its nuclear programme. But Mr Soltanieh said Iran could adjust that policy.

Although the Security Council is unlikely to impose sanctions on Iran and no US military action is imminent, Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA director general, is worried that the two sides could be set for confrontation.

He called for them to soften their rhetoric and suggested that the US eventually join negotiations with Iran. Mr ElBaradei said he hoped a deal could be reached in the next few weeks.

That hope was echoed by Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister, who said: “I don’t believe we should engage in something which might become a self-fulfilling prophecy...We are convinced there is no military solution to this crisis. I don’t think sanctions as a means to solve a crisis have ever achieved a goal in recent history.”

Some western diplomats are alarmed at Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East, where it has strengthened ties with Syria, reinforced relations with Iraq’s Shia majority and promised funding for Hamas, the militant Islamist group that triumphed in this year’s Palestinian elections.

Washington described Iran’s response to the IAEA meeting as “provocative”. John Bolton, US ambassador to the UN, told the Associated Press news agency: “Their threats show why leaving a country like that with a nuclear weapon is so dangerous.” He said the Iranian comments reflected “their determination to acquire weapons”.

Tehran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Washington and the European Union this week rejected a compromise initiative, promoted briefly by Russia. The deal would have allowed Iran a limited capacity to enrich uranium – the process that can create weapons-grade material if made in sufficient quantity.

A British official said: “We’re very reserved about the latest Russian thoughts and think they would be in danger of conceding to the Iranians what they seek – mastery of the nuclear technology.” But an Iranian official argued that Tehran had been prepared for a “retreat” that would have left the Islamic republic with between 20 and 160 centrifuges for uranium enrichment – many fewer than the thousands needed to produce a nuclear weapon.

Additional reporting by Mark Turner at the UN