U.S., EU Want Iran Sent Before UN Security Council

U.S. and European diplomats drafted
a resolution asking the United Nations Security Council to
confront Iran about its intention to enrich uranium.
The resolution asks the UN's International Atomic Energy
Agency to report Iran to the Security Council, according to a
four-page draft obtained by Bloomberg News. The 15-member council
should tell Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, it said.
Iran could leave the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, if it
faces ``the language of force,'' Agence France-Presse cited
Iran's nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, as saying in Tehran.
Calls to send Iran before the Security Council intensified
after talks with France, Germany and the U.K., representing the
European Union, collapsed last month. Iran broke IAEA seals on an
idled uranium conversion plant on Aug. 9. Iran says it needs
nuclear fuel to generate electricity. The U.S. says the Islamic
Republic wants to build an atomic bomb.
``I would like to see a united international community,''
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said yesterday when he
was asked whether referring the dispute to the UN Security
Council could split the 35-member IAEA board. The board usually
passes resolutions by consensus, rather than by votes, in an
effort to show unity. The last time the board of governors voted
was in 2003, when it sent North Korea's dossier to the Council.

No Guarantee

A Security Council referral isn't guaranteed in Iran's case.
Iran has been talking with IAEA board members including China,
India, Russia, South Africa and India to forestall a resolution.
As many as 14 developing countries, members of the non-
aligned movement, say they will oppose a Security Council
referral. The group doesn't want Iran's idled facilities to set a
precedent. Diplomats from the IAEA's board of governors are
meeting for a second day in Vienna to discuss Iran's nuclear
ambitions.
Iran's earlier suspension of enrichment was ``a voluntary
and non-legally binding confidence building measure and it should
not be interpreted in any way as inhibiting or restricting the
inalienable right of member states to develop atomic energy,''
said the non-aligned group's head, Malaysian Ambassador Rajmah
Hussain, on Aug. 11.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatened a break
from his country's diplomatic efforts if countries try to take
away its ability to develop nuclear technology.
``If some try to impose their will on the Iranian people
through resort to a language of force and threat with Iran, we
will reconsider our entire approach to the nuclear issue,''
Ahmadinejad told the UN General Assembly on Sept. 14.

`Energetic Action'

The IAEA has been lobbying members to change the nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty to prevent members from withdrawing. The UN
Security Council should take ``energetic action'' against
countries like North Korea, which withdrew from the treaty in
2003, the agency's former chief spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said in
January.
``A country that withdraws is automatically a threat to
international peace and security,'' said Gwozdecky, who left the
IAEA last month to return to Canada's foreign ministry.
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, drafted in 1968 and
ratified by Iran in 1970, is a point of contention between Iran
and the U.S. The treaty gives all signatories the legal right to
enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.
Iran, with the world's second biggest oil reserves, has been
signing energy deals with IAEA board members. The Islamic
Republic is set to supply China with 10 million tons of liquefied
natural gas annually beginning in 2008, Iran's Oil Ministry said
July 6. It's also planning a $7.4 billion natural-gas pipeline to
India.

Oil Link

In Tehran today, Larijani made a clear link between oil
deals and support for Iran at the IAEA, AFP reported.
``Those countries that have economic transactions with Iran,
especially in the field of oil, have not defended Iran's right so
far,'' AFP cited Larijani as saying. ``Based on how much they
defend Iran's national right will facilitate their participation
in Iran's economic field.''
The Iranians' oil trade ``leads them to believe they've
become a supplier of choice in Asia,'' said former UN Deputy
Director General, Giandomenico Picco, who helped negotiate the
end to the Iraq-Iran war. Their reliance upon the West isn't as
important as what it was.''
The IAEA board is comprised of Algeria, Argentina,
Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Ecuador, France,
Germany, Ghana, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea,
Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal,
Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden,
Tunisia, U.K., U.S., Venezuela, Vietnam and Yemen.