Iran will not back down on nuclear program, says top negotiator

Iran's top nuclear negotiator insisted that Tehran will push ahead with its controversial nuclear program, and suggested it could break off ties with the UN nuclear watchdog if the world inflicts punishments proposed by European nations.

In a familiar mix of threats and offers, Ali Larijani said Iran wanted negotiations to ease the mounting standoff over fears it is seeking nuclear weapons, but that it would not abandon what he insisted was a peaceful nuclear energy program.

"We want to use our rights under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and in this context there will be no retreat, but we are ready for negotiations," Larijani said Friday, after talks with Russian officials. He said Iran was prepared to renew negotiations with the European Union's top diplomat Javier Solana or to hold talks "in any other format," according to Russian news agencies.

The European draft resolution that would impose UN sanctions on Iran "will not promote a political solution of the problem," Larijani said. "Those who support adopting the resolution want to aggravate the problems of the region."

Larijani held talks with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and met for hours with the head of Russian's Security Council, Igor Ivanov, who said discussions would continue on Saturday, but revealed virtually nothing about their content.

With Russia calling for major changes that would water down the proposed sanctions, the visit appeared to highlight divisions among the five permanent Security Council members, which face potentially unbridgeable rifts on how to deal with Iran's defiance.

In comments that dovetailed with Russia's warnings that too much pressure could deepen Iran's defiance, Larijani warned that Tehran would reconsider its ties with the International Atomic Energy Agency if the council adopted the European proposal.

"We will reconsider relations with the IAEA if the United Nations passes the ... resolution ignoring Russia's amendments," Russian news agencies quoted him as saying. Iran has repeatedly threatened to respond to sanctions by blocking IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities.

While they recently agree in principle on sanctions, both Russia and China have continued to publicly push for dialogue instead of UN punishment, despite the collapse last month of a European Union attempt to entice Iran into talks. Both countries have major commercial ties with Iran and can veto UN Security Council resolutions as permanent members.

"We stand for solving the problem through talks, let's see how we can advance in that," Lavrov said at the start of his meeting with Larijani. But there was no indication afterward of progress.

The five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany offered Iran a package of economic incentives and political rewards in June if it agreed to freeze its uranium enrichment effort. But Tehran has said it would continue enrichment, a process that is central to both civilian power generation and the production of nuclear weapons.

The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty allows for peaceful nuclear power programs, but Iran's activities and its secrecy have led to fears it is seeking nuclear weapons. Larijani insisted that was not the case, saying that "nuclear weapons have no place in our defense doctrine," Russian news agencies reported.

The United States and some other countries, notably Mideast neighbor Israel, are unconvinced.

Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh suggested Friday that his country might be forced to launch a military strike against Iran's nuclear program, the clearest statement yet of such a possibility from a high-ranking official.

"I am not advocating an Israeli pre-emptive military action against Iran, and I am aware of its possible repercussions," Sneh said in comments published in The Jerusalem Post. "I consider it a last resort. But even the last resort is sometimes the only resort."

Russia is building Iran's first nuclear power plant and strongly supports Iran's right to nuclear energy, but has joined the United States and Europe in demanding it halt enrichment in order to ease concerns. However, Moscow has rejected the European draft, urging revisions including the removal of all references to the plant in the Iranian city of Bushehr.

The European draft resolution would order all countries to ban the supply of material and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear and missile programs, measures that could damage Russia's nuclear and arms-industry ties with Tehran. It would exempt the Bushehr plant, but not the nuclear fuel needed for the reactor.

Larijani's visit came amid signs Moscow is seeking to revive its proposal to move Iran's enrichment work to Russian soil to assuage international concerns that Iran could use the process to develop weapons. Larijani said the proposal remains on the table, but there was no evidence of movement toward Iranian acceptance.