Iran to shun UN atomic watchdog if hit by embargo

TEHRAN, Apr 25 (Reuters) Iran said today it would freeze ties with the UN nuclear watchdog and speed up its atomic programme if it were hit by international sanctions.

''If you impose sanctions, Iran will suspend its relations with the (IAEA) agency,'' chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told a conference on nuclear issues in Tehran.

''Suspension means we will accelerate our activities.'' US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who like other Western leaders accuses Iran of having a secret programme to build nuclear weapons, said in Greece: ''I suppose the Iranians can threaten, but they are deepening their own isolation.'' The verbal sparring preceded an influential report on Iran that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Mohamed ElBaradei is to deliver to the UN Security Council on Friday.

Rice called for ''credible steps'' to curb Iran's nuclear work and said the UN Security Council had to take action ''in light of Iran's continued defiance of international norms''.

''It seems logical that we should consider a Chapter 7 resolution under the Security Council's mandate,'' she said.

A Chapter 7 resolution can open the way to sanctions or even military action, but another resolution would be required in which either step would have to be specified.

The United States, Britain and France favour sanctions unless Iran backs down soon. The council's other veto-holders, Russia and China, oppose punitive measures.

France said it had provisionally scheduled a meeting on May 2 of political directors of the council's five permanent members plus Germany to discuss the next moves on Iran.

Larijani said Iran ''cannot be expected to act transparently'' in its nuclear activities if it was attacked militarily -- a last-resort option the United States has declined to rule out.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered to share Iran's nuclear technology with other countries, an idea likely to be greeted with dismay by Washington and its allies.

''The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to transfer the experience, science and technology of its scientists,'' he said.

Iran says its atomic programme is only for power generation, MORE REUTERS SHB VP2230