Iran asks UN to stop US making military threats

TEHRAN, May 1 (Reuters) Iran today called on the United Nations to stop the United States threatening the Islamic Republic with a military attack against its nuclear programme, the official IRNA news agency said.

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Javad Zarif, sent a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, calling on him to take immediate measures against ''illegal and reckless'' threats by US officials, the agency said.

''The United Nations' past negligence in responding to these illegal and unjustifiable threats is regrettable and has caused senior American officials to become more brazen and even consider using nuclear weapons as an option,'' the letter said.

Washington has never specifically threatened a military strike and has said it would prefer to solve an international stand-off over Iran's atomic programme by diplomatic means.

But US officials have consistently declined to rule out an attack. When asked last month whether the United States was planning a tactical nuclear stike on Iran, US President George W Bush said: ''All options are on the table''.

Iran has been referred to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions, over suspicions that it is using its nuclear power station programme as a smokescreen for making nuclear warheads. Tehran denies the charge.

But political analysts say some US hawks feel there may not be enough time for diplomacy after Iran announced it was producing its own enriched uranium.

''Some top American officials are resorting to baseless pretexts to make illegal and public threats of force against the Islamic Republic of Iran - in contradiction to international law and the basic principles of the UN charter - and this continues incessantly,'' Zarif's letter added.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned yesterday the United States might take steps outside the UN Security Council to pressure Iran to stop its nuclear programme.

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