US clamors for Iran sanctions

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan eased the pressure on Iran over its nuclear program on Sept. 3 when he stopped short of condemning it for ignoring an international deadline of Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment and appeared to accept a key part of its negotiating stance. Speaking in Tehran at the end of a two-day visit, Annan's comments contrasted with those of President Bush, who demanded "consequences" after Iran missed last week's UN Security Council ultimatum. Bush, invoking the same language that he used to describe Iraq before the March 2003 invasion, called Iran a "grave threat." "It is time for Iran to make a choice," Bush said in a speech to the American Legion's national convention in Salt Lake City. Since his 2002 State of the Union speech, when he singled out Iran as part of an "axis of evil," Bush has asserted, without offering proof, that Tehran's nuclear energy program is a cover for weapons development. Tehran insists that its nuclear activities are designed to produce civilian power and are within its rights under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Annan said that he understood the issue better after meeting senior Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, and the foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki. His comments followed an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report which confirmed that Iran had ignored a UN resolution to freeze uranium enrichment. The IAEA inspectors reported however, that since April, when Iran began enriching uranium in a string of centrifuges, it has produced about 13 pounds of uranium to levels consistent with an energy program. The material cannot be used for a weapon. Annan pointed to an assurance from Ahmadinejad that Iran wanted compromise. "The president reaffirmed to me Iran's preparedness and determination to negotiate and find a solution to the crisis," Annan told a press conference. He said Ahmadinejad had told him that Iran "does not accept suspension [of uranium enrichment] before negotiations." But he added: "Iran has said it is open for negotiations. All issues can be discussed at the negotiations." That comment appeared to mirror Iran's position that the demand for suspension should be included in general negotiations and not set as a precondition. Annan's remarks came in the face of a clamor by the United States for sanctions. The Security Council is expected to meet soon to discuss a new resolution that could include punitive measures. But hard-hitting sanctions are uncertain because of the opposition of Russia and China, which have strong economic ties to Tehran. Iran has repeatedly shrugged off the threat of sanctions, saying they would hurt industrialized countries more than Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, because such a step would drive already high oil prices higher still. Washington is reported to have drawn up a three-tier sanctions menu that would begin with limited measures to ban the sale of nuclear equipment to Iran, block travel by Iranian officials and seize their foreign assets. If Iran did not comply, the sanctions would be widened and could lead to a ban on commercial flights and an embargo of financial institutions. Russia cast doubt on whether the Security Council could reach a quick consensus and said threatening Iran would lead to a "dead end." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Interfax news agency: "Yes, there are countries whose policies raise doubts, and cause discontent, but we all live in the same world and we need to... draw them into dialogue, and not isolation and sanctions." On Sept. 6, Iran's president again proposed that he and Bush should hold a public debate, and suggested that the UN General Assembly later this month would be the perfect place. Ahmadinejad first proposed last month that he and Bush should debate, and the White House dismissed the idea. In a speech to a religious conference, Ahmadinejad said the UN would allow US citizens and people around the world to watch and listen to such a debate without censorship. "We are ready to discuss the ways of managing the world for achieving justice, peace, friendship and removing violations and threats," he said. "We proposed the debate to say that the period of bullying has expired, but false advocators of democracy avoided it because of their arrogance and lack of logic," Ahmadinejad also said. The day before, Bush branded Iran's leaders tyrants as dangerous as al-Qaida terrorists and said they must not be allowed to get nuclear weapons–"the tools of mass murder." The sharp escalation in rhetoric came as Bush made the second of a series of speeches on the war on terrorism in the run up to November US legislative elections expected to be overshadowed by the unpopular war in Iraq. Bush accused Iran of funding the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and other groups in order to attack Israel and the United States "by proxy," and said Tehran aimed to dominate its neighbors. "Like al-Qaida and the Sunni extremists, the Iranian regime has clear aims. They want to drive America out of the region, to destroy Israel, and to dominate the broader Middle East," Bush said. "The Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies have demonstrated their willingness to kill Americans, and now the Iranian regime is pursuing nuclear weapons." Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said their government believed the only possible way to achieve a fair and acceptable outcome for all parties was through negotiations and by respecting Iran's legitimate rights. "Iran's activities are transparent, public and have peaceful aims far away from any ambiguities and [the issue] can be easily solved through negotiations," he said. "Exploitation of peaceful nuclear energy is our obvious right. We will never give up our legal right," Iranian state TV quoted Ahmadinejad as telling a rally in Maku, Iran. "The West's claim that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons is a sheer lie."