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World powers still want nuclear talks with Iran: Rice
Friday, March 07, 2008
LONDON/ BRUSSELS: Iran may not have ended efforts to develop a nuclear weapon, despite a US intelligence report that Tehran shelved its atomic arms plans in 2003, a senior British diplomat was quoted as saying on Thursday.
The diplomat, cited by British newspapers, questioned the US National Intelligence Estimate, which caused surprise last year by saying that Iran’s atomic goals had been exaggerated.
“Many of us were surprised by how emphatic the writers of it were. That all the activities stopped in 2003 and had not resumed,” said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“I haven’t seen any intelligence that gives me even medium confidence that these programme haven’t resumed. So we just don’t know,” he added, cited by the Independent and Guardian dailies.
The US intelligence report released in December said Iran halted its nuclear weapons programme in 2003, although it cautioned that the Islamic republic could be able to make a nuclear weapon sometime between 2010 and 2015.
The assessment was seen by some as weakening the justification for military strikes against Iran, although US President George W Bush refused to rule out an attack and vowed to step up pressure on Tehran despite the report.
The British diplomat said the US report “had an impact on the international debate, but I don’t think it ever took the military option off the table,” adding that the Iranians “continue to pursue a dangerous path.”We shouldn’t underestimate the risk of miscalculation,” he added.
The UN Security Council’s decided on Monday to slap further sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear fuel work.
The United States and the European Union have challenged Tehran to disprove allegations it is seeking to build nuclear arms, at a meeting this week of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted on Thursday that world powers would continue to offer Iran incentives to get it to suspend uranium enrichment, even after Iran rejected further talks.
“The six ... continue to follow a dual track strategy,” she told reporters at Nato headquarters, referring to the pursuit of sanctions at the United Nations and the offer of talks led by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
“We are continuing to talk about what the path would look like for Iran, should it choose the path of negotiation,” Rice said.
“There’s is a lot on the table, the Iranians want to know more about it, or want to know in greater depth what those elements mean,” she said in reference to an offer long on the table that the Islamic republic has rejected.
Solana has, for more than 18 months, been trying to persuade Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for a vast package of political, trade and economic incentives. As he held out this diplomatic carrot, pressure has mounted at the UN Security Council, which has slapped three sets of sanctions on Iran. But Tehran maintains that its nuclear programme me is for peaceful purposes.
It has refused to suspend enrichment — a process to fuel an atomic reactor which, at highly refined levels, could be used to make a bomb — as a precondition for starting talks on the offer.
On Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected any new talks with Solana, saying Tehran would in the future negotiate only with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“Iran will not negotiate with anyone outside the (UN atomic) agency with regard to its nuclear issue,” he said, according to state news agency IRNA.
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