Rice plays down Iran's global oil supply disruption threat

Washington, June 5 (UNI) The Bush administration has reacted cautiously to remarks made by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that any attempt by the United States to punish the Islamic Republic for its nuclear activities would jeopardize oil shipments from the West Asia.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Fox News that ''we should not place too much emphasis on a threat of this kind. After all, Iran is also very dependent on oil revenue.

I think, something like 80 per cent of Iran's budget comes from oil revenue''.

Although President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Parliament members were in attendance when the Ayatollah made the threat at a public ceremony yesterday, much of the message was aimed at Washington.

The Ayatollah also remarked that those who threaten Iran's interests will face ''the sharpness'' of the nation's anger.

Rice said yesterday that it was the international community that is demanding Iran suspend enrichment activities, not just the United States.

''We understand that it may take a little time for Iran to assess the situation. In a short time, they will be presented with the actual proposals that the EU-three and others have been considering. I would note that the conditions that we outline are not American conditions. They are conditions of the IAEA Board of Governors, conditions of the UN Security Council presidential statement and a condition that was set by the Europeans (Britain, France and Germany) when the negotiations broke down.'' Responding to a question on whether Iran had already rejected a six-nation diplomatic initiative, objecting to any pre-conditions, Rice said Iran had not yet received the proposal and would need time to assess it.

The Secretary said Iran would be given time to consider the proposal, but that time will be limited.

''We will not allow Iran to drag this out. This really has to be settled, not in a matter of months. We have made very clear, and will make very clear that the international community is not prepared to wait, while Iran continues down this path,'' Rice told CNN's ''Late Edition''.

''But in the meantime we're not going to react to every statement that comes out of Iran.'' President Bush has not ruled out the military option against Iran should diplomacy fail to prevent the Islamic Republic from developing nuclear weapons.

The Bush administration says it is focusing on diplomacy and, last week, made it clear that the US would participate in direct talks over Iran's nuclear programme, on the condition that Tehran suspends uranium enrichment. But, Iran insists that enrichment is its national right.

Iranian officials have cautiously welcomed the prospect of direct dealings with the United States, but said they have no intention of suspending uranium enrichment and would reject any pre-conditions for talks.

Specific details of the proposal, believed to be a ''carrots and stick'' policy, which were worked out at talks in Vienna last week by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, have not been released.

But, the plan is believed to contain economic and technological incentives for Iran to limit its nuclear activities, as well as the threat of UN sanctions should Tehran refuse to cooperate.

UNI XC PDS VP0553