Iran defiant as EU sets deadline on nuke issue
Foreign Desk Report


TEHRAN—Iran's hardline president maintained a defiant tone Saturday ahead of talks with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on the country's suspect nuclear program.
Annan flew into Tehran two days after Iran failed to meet a U.N. deadline for suspending its enrichment of uranium. Iran now faces the possibility of economic sanctions under a U.N. Security Council resolution approved July 31.
Annan was also expected to press Tehran to assist in implementation of the U.N.-sponsored cease-fire in Lebanon, whose Hezbollah guerrillas are believed to receive major financing and weapons from Iran.
Syria, the other main ally of Hezbollah, promised Annan on Friday to increase border patrols and work with Lebanese troops to stop the arms flow to Hezbollah.
Hours ahead of Annan's arrival, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated Iran's determination to forge ahead with its nuclear program.
"Hyperbole against Iran's peaceful nuclear activities by Western countries especially the U.S. will continue," state-run television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "But the resistance and awareness of this nation will defuse all these plots."
"Today those countries, which have filled up their arsenals with nuclear weapons, threaten nations and make claims about human rights and democracy. They are the biggest liars of the world."
"Avaricious powers can't create any obstacles on the way to the progress of our nation," he told a crowd in the town of Miandoab in northwestern Iran.
The comments echoed his remarks on Friday, when he proclaimed that Iran would never to give up its nuclear program and accused the West of misrepresenting Tehran's nuclear activities.
In a renewed European diplomatic effort, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will hold talks in the coming days with the top Iranian nuclear negotiator, likely in Europe.
John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the U.N Security Council would wait to consider possible actions until after Solana has met with Larijani.
The Security Council had dangled the threat of sanctions if Iran defied its will.
But with permanent veto-wielding council members Russia and China opposed to quick and harsh penalties because of their strong trade ties with Iran, the likelihood of immediate punitive measures appeared in doubt.
Iran says it wants to develop a full-scale enrichment program to generate electricity, but there is growing suspicion the oil-rich country wants to misuse enrichment to create fissile material for nuclear warheads.
The European Union agreed on Saturday to try to clarify Iran's stance on halting uranium enrichment within two weeks as the U.N. secretary general arrived in Tehran to discuss the dispute.
Kofi Annan's visit to Iran takes place two days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reported Tehran had failed to meet the U.N. Security Council's August 31 deadline to suspend sensitive work.
The United States, which accuses Iran of seeking atomic bombs, said on Friday it was consulting European governments about possible sanctions against the Islamic Republic, but the EU signaled it wanted to see more dialogue with Tehran which says its atomic activity is aimed at producing power.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, next week to try to clear up ambiguities in Tehran's 21-page reply to the major powers' offer of broad cooperation if it stops the activities that could ultimately produce atomic weapons.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said after the 25 EU ministers discussed the Iranian issue in Finland on Saturday: "We give Solana two weeks for his clarification talks."
But Solana told reporters: "There's no deadline, whenever we finish ... We are going to start in the coming days and I hope that it will be very short. We don't need many meetings."
Other EU ministers said Solana would report back to them in Brussels on September 15 and they had agreed not to take any action against Iran before then.
So far Iran has given no sign it is prepared to meet the international community's condition for opening negotiations on economic, technological and political cooperation.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remained defiant on Saturday and was quoted by the ISNA student news agency as saying: "Our nation is a supporter of peace but it will not retreat an iota from its right to nuclear technology."
Annan was expected to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Larijani, who is also the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, on Saturday.
Annan will press Iran to help shore up the Hizbollah- Israel ceasefire, but diplomats say the talks will also cover the nuclear confrontation.
In Finland, EU ministers declined to talk publicly of sanctions if Tehran did not comply on halting enrichment and stressed their preference for a solution through dialogue.
"Despite our intensive efforts of the last six months, there has up to today unfortunately been no signal of reciprocity from Iran," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
But he added: "We in the EU and Germany have no interest in an escalation in the coming days and weeks due to deliberations in the Security Council.
"That's why we and the EU foreign policy chief will neglect no opportunity to keep trying to find out through talks whether there is a possibility to return to the negotiating table."
French Europe Minister Catherine Colonna said it was important to continue the dialogue with Tehran while reminding Iran of the international community's conditions.
Asked how long Iran had to comply with the Security Council's demands on its nuclear program, she said: "Rendezvous in a few days."
EU diplomats said the two-week timeline was determined largely by the fact that the bloc's 25 foreign ministers hold their next regular meeting on September 15, and the U.N. General Assembly convenes on September 19.
World leaders and foreign ministers are set to discuss next steps toward Iran at their annual gathering in New York.
The United States is the driving force behind possible sanctions but Russia has cast doubt on whether the Security Council could reach a quick consensus and said threatening Iran would lead to a "dead end."
The five countries with permanent seats on the Security Council -- China, Britain, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany would meet in Berlin on September 7 to discuss the way forward, the French Foreign Ministry said.
The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said any sanctions should target Iran's leaders.