Iran Refuses UN Uranium Demand, Is Rebuked by U.S. (

Iran refused a demand by the United
Nations' nuclear watchdog to halt all uranium-enrichment
activities, prompting a U.S. rebuke as the Islamic Republic faces
possible economic sanctions.
The U.S. reproached Iran today for refusing an International
Atomic Energy Agency resolution urging an immediate halt to
Iranian enrichment-related activities. The agency, which
acknowledged Iran's right to enrich uranium, asked Iran to
further open its atomic program to UN inspectors.
``Iran will drag out negotiations with the IAEA and the
Europeans, who are unlikely to agree to sanctions because of
their oil interests in Iran,'' Youssef Ibrahim, managing director
of the Dubai, United Arab Emirated-based Strategic Energy
Investment Group, said in a telephone interview.
The U.S. says Iran, which holds the world's second-biggest
proven oil reserves after Saudi Arabia, is hiding a nuclear-
weapons program and is seeking imposition of UN sanctions on the
country. New sanctions may force European oil companies such
Royal Dutch/Shell Group to stop working in Iran.
Iran won't accept any UN demand to halt the enrichment of
uranium, Hassan Rowhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National
Security Council, said in Tehran, the state-run IRNA news agency
reported. Iran's nuclear program is peaceful and is only intended
to generate energy, he said.

Inspections

Iran has had more than 800 IAEA inspections in the last
year, Hossein Mousavian, head of Iran's delegation to the IAEA,
said this week.
Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil company, OAO Lukoil,
Russia's top oil producer, and Norway's Norsk Hydro ASA are among
other international oil companies working in Iran. The country is
the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia.
The ``clock is ticking'' for Iran to stop its activities and
cooperate with the IAEA, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham
said today in Vienna.
``We should all expect that Iran should follow the
obligations and cooperate with the IAEA,'' Abraham said at a
conference of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, a movement
backed by the U.S., Russia and International Atomic Energy Agency
seeking to secure radioactive materials around the world.

`Dialogue'

Iran's suspension of its uranium-enrichment program since
October 2003 was voluntary and could be extended, Rowhani said.
``Only dialogue can stop us from resuming (uranium-
enrichment) activities,'' Rowhani said.
Doubts about Iran's nuclear program are gone now that the
country revealed the goals for the activities, he said. The
International Atomic Energy Agency's resolution proved that
Iran's nuclear program is peaceful, Rowhani said.
The U.S. has failed to achieve its goal of seeking a UN
Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on Iran, he said.
The Iranian official didn't rule out the possibility of resuming
nuclear talks with the U.S.
The U.S. is pleased the IAEA has set Nov. 25 as a deadline
for Iran to cease its pursuit of nuclear weapons, Jackie Sanders,
the head of the U.S. delegation, said yesterday.

Trade Sanctions

U.S. companies are prohibited from investing in Iran by
government trade sanctions. The U.S. law, known as the Iran-Libya
Sanctions Act, hasn't kept European and Asian companies from
operating there.
Shell and Spain's Repsol YPF SA signed an accord on Sept. 16
to build a liquefied natural-gas plant in Iran, which may take
years to develop. Shell, an Anglo-Dutch oil company, produces oil
from two fields in Iran and is bidding to develop more in the
country.
``The U.S. sanctions haven't hurt Iran and if the UN
sanctions are imposed I doubt they would be respected,'' Youssef
said.
Russia, which is helping Iran develop its nuclear program,
has also refused to back out of an $800 million project to build
a nuclear unit at Bushehr on the Persian Gulf, Youssef said.
Iran recently retested its Shahab-3 missile in the presence
of observers to prove it isn't afraid to use force to defend
itself from a potential attack, Youssef said.
Israel, a U.S. ally in the Middle East, destroyed the Osirak
nuclear reactor in neighboring Iraq in 1981.
Iran and North Korea are two counties that the U.S. warns
are working on nuclear weapons. Earlier this month, an explosion
in North Korea prompted speculation, dismissed by U.S. and South
Korean officials, that the country may have carried out a nuclear
test. North Korea denied making such a test.
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said the explosion
in North Korea didn't appear to be nuclear, based on what he was
told by an IAEA sister organization responsible for monitoring
explosive devices. ElBaradei said North Korea has the plutonium
necessary for a nuclear weapon, and wouldn't rule out the
possibility that the country has tested or may be ready to test a
nuclear device.
``I do not exclude at all that they have assembled a nuclear
weapon or more than one nuclear weapon,'' he said on Cable News
Network's ``Late Edition'' program. ``They have the fissile
material. They have the industrial infrastructure.''