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Vienna talks end in stalemate

Julian Borger

Iran warns against use of force to halt its peaceful n-plan

Vienna: The last-minute negotiations on Iran's nuclear stand-off in Vienna on Tuesday failed to reach a compromise.

Ari Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, emerged from talks with Mohamed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), insisting that Iran had a right to pursue a peaceful nuclear programme and warning against any use of force to stop it.

``Anyone interested in irrational moves would definitely receive an appropriate response,'' said Mr. Larijani. ``This can be solved at the chess board or in the boxing ring. We believe if they want to get into the boxing ring, they will have problems on their side too.''

The gathering crisis over Iran's nuclear programme, however, will become more intense with the expected publication of an IAEA report stating that Iran has not complied with U.N. demands to stop uranium enrichment. Nor has it met the nuclear agency's own demands for greater transparency about its nuclear programme.

IAEA officials said the report was due to be delivered to the U.N. Security Council at the same time as the Agency's Board, but added there was a small possibility its publication could be delayed.

The report is likely to trigger a Security Council debate over tightening sanctions on Iran and intensify the debate within the Bush administration over whether to take military action aimed at slowing down Iran's nuclear programme.

The report coincides with the arrival of the carrier USS John C Stennis — backed by a strike group with more than 6,500 sailors and marines and with additional minesweeping ships — in the Gulf on Tuesday.

It joined the carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower after President Bush ordered the build-up as a show of strength to Iran.

According to diplomatic sources in Vienna, Mr. ElBaradei put forward a compromise proposal involving a ``time out'' for both sides — Iran would stop enriching uranium in centrifuges it is building in Natanz, and the U.S. and its allies would drop proceedings against it at the Security Council.

A diplomat at the IAEA said the time out was essentially a restatement of the Security Council resolution passed in December demanding a halt to enrichment, but couched in terms that might allow the Government in Tehran to save face. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed never to stop uranium enrichment.

Mr. Larijani showed no signs of softening that position on Tuesday, repeatedly saying a negotiated solution was possible, while denouncing the U.N.'s December resolution as illegitimate.

That resolution imposed limited sanctions on Iran, restricting sales of some technology and curbing the right to travel of Iranian officials involved in the nuclear programme. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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