Nuclear meeting chief aims to lift Iran challenge

VIENNA, May 1 (Reuters) The Japanese chairman of a meeting on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty today said he was determined to persuade Iran to lift objections threatening to paralyse the gathering.

At the opening session yesterday Iran balked at an agenda focusing on non-compliance with the NPT, which requires members without nuclear bombs not to acquire them and commits the original five nuclear powers to phase out their arsenals.

Tehran's envoy at the Vienna meeting objected to a line in the agenda ''reaffirming the need for full compliance'', saying this would wrongly focus debate too much on one country.

Japanese chairman Yukiya Amano told Reuters he was resolved to preserve the line but try to win over Iran.

''I intend to stick to the agenda because things have changed.

North Korea exploded a nuclear device so we really must reaffirm the need for compliance,'' he said.

The two-week NPT ''Preparatory Committee'' meeting, comprising 189 member states and aimed at drafting priorities for the next full review of the treaty in 2010, coincides with major challenges to the accord posed by Iran and North Korea.

North Korea's detonated a nuclear device in 2006 after walking out of the NPT and expelling UN inspectors. Iran is enriching uranium in defiance of UN resolutions demanding that it stop due to suspicions it is secretly seeking nuclear bombs.

Iran, hit by UN sanctions over its nuclear activity, says it aims only to generate electricity.

''All parties want to start discussions on substance as quickly as possible. No one wants a repeat of 2005,'' Amano said.

The NPT Review Conference two years ago was crippled by agenda disputes and failed to yield a final consensus statement on what should be undertaken to shore up the treaty.

One diplomat said it was not clear whether Iran's objections were tactical or whether it was really prepared to sink the meeting by objecting to references to 'compliance' or discussion about what should happen if a country violated the NPT.

A diplomat from the Non-Aligned Movement of developing countries, to which Iran belongs, said many were unhappy with Iran's challenge since it could block debate on two NAM priorities for the NPT -- swifter disarmament by nuclear weapons powers and a nuclear arms-free zone in West Asia.

''We were surprised by Iran's objections,'' he said.

Many believe the 37-year-old NPT must be overhauled to cope with states trying to master nuclear arms capability under the guise of civilian atomic energy programmes.

REUTERS KP1529