Rice urges pressure on Iran, wants suspension

Berlin, May 30: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today said it would be a big mistake to drop a demand that Iran suspend uranium enrichment and more pressure should be piled on Tehran over its nuclear programme.

The UN atomic watchdog agency"s chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, annoyed the United States and others last week when he called for a face-saving compromise that could cap Iran"s uranium enrichment at current levels rather than demand full suspension of a programme the West says is aimed at building an atomic bomb.

Rice told reporters such a strategy would not work and made clear it was the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany that were negotiating with the Iranians and not the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

""I think that would be a very big mistake,"" she told reporters travelling with her for a G8 foreign ministers meeting in Germany where Iran will be a key issue on the agenda.

""We are firm about the need to suspend and we are firm about the need to continue to increase the pressure,"" she added.

Iran says it is enriching uranium only to generate electricity, has a right to do so and will not suspend enrichment.

Rice will be in Vienna, the IAEA"s headquarters, on Thursday for a women"s empowerment conference and to address the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe but she said she had no plans to see ElBaradei.

""The key here is that the IAEA is not an agency that is negotiating with the Iranians. That is being done under a Security Council resolution by six states,"" she said, referring to negotiations led by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on behalf of major powers.

IAEA Compromise

Diplomats have said ElBaradei was not trying to undercut Western powers by suggesting a compromise but he felt the current approach was not working and is concerned the standoff with Iran could lead to a broader Middle East conflict.

Last week, the IAEA issued a report saying Iran was starting to enrich uranium in substantial amounts with 1,300 centrifuge machines and was likely to have 3,000 installed by mid-summer, laying the foundations for industrial production yielding large stockpiles of fuel which could be converted into material for atomic bombs.

Iran faces a third round of harsher sanctions for ignoring a UN Security Council deadline last week to stop enrichment.

Rice declined to say what additional sanctions were being considered but said she was awaiting the outcome of a meeting between Solana and Iran"s nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, in Madrid on Thursday.

""We can then assess whether to simply continue and move up, tighten the sanctions that are already there or whether there are new categories that need to be considered,"" she said.

Asked whether sanctions that targeted Iran"s vital oil and gas sector could be considered, Rice said world powers would examine a ""full range"" of measures.

She also made clear that sanctions did not have to be imposed only by the Security Council to be effective, pointing to US financial measures to discourage firms from doing business with Iran.

""We are not dependent just on the Security Council track,"" she said. ""There are things that can be done outside the Security Council if we choose to do it."" The United States has been piling pressure on European banks and energy firms not to do business with Iran, sending a message that reputations are at stake if they do so. Such a campaign, Rice said, was having an effect on the Iranian economy.

Reuters>