http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060308/ts_n...HNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Quote:

Iran threatens reprisals if punished
By Mark Heinrich and Parisa Hafezi

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran warned the United States on Wednesday it could inflict "harm and pain" to match whatever punishment Washington persuaded the U.N. Security Council to dole out for Tehran's refusal to halt atomic research.

"So if the United States wishes to choose that path, let the ball roll," Tehran national security official Javad Vaeedi said.

Security Council diplomats said it would probably start debating Iran next week and U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said it would be Monday or Tuesday.

The council's first move is likely to be urging Tehran to halt nuclear fuel work and cooperate with U.N. inspectors, without setting a deadline or threatening action.

Iran, the world's No. 4 oil provider, also said it would review its oil export policy should the council tackle its case, which EU powers said was now inevitable as Tehran had flouted demands to prove it was not secretly seeking atom bombs.

"The United States may have the power to cause harm and pain but it is also susceptible to harm and pain," Vaeedi said.

Asked about Iran's warning, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in New Orleans: "Provocative statements and actions only further isolate Iran from the rest of the world."

Tehran and the United States, arch-foes since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, clashed at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's governing board called to consider an IAEA report that says Iran is accelerating nuclear research.

The report by IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei, to be sent to the Security Council later in the day, will form part of the basis for any U.N. action. The U.N. agency's board decided a month ago to send Iran's nuclear dossier to the council, as long as it deferred any measures until after ElBaradei's report.

In testimony to the U.S. Congress, Burns said Iran "directly threatens vital American interests." He said "we plan a concerted approach (in the council) ... that gradually escalates pressure on Iran."

But Washington's top EU allies, Germany, France and Britain, were more cautious. "This is not the end of diplomacy," the "EU3" told the Vienna-based IAEA board.

U.S. Ambassador Gregory Schulte said "the time has now come for the council to act" as Iran had defied a February 4 IAEA resolution to cease trying to master technology to produce fuel for nuclear power plants or, potentially, bombs.

"(Iran) has so far chose a course of flagrant threats and phony negotiations. They hoped this would keep the international community divided and their nuclear ambitions unchecked," he told reporters outside the closed board session.

"Instead the course they have chosen has left them increasingly isolated and increasingly at risk of meaningful consequences (in the Security Council)," he added.

But any U.S.-led move to impose sanctions would face stiff resistance from veto-wielding council members China and Russia, which share the West's wish to deny Iran nuclear know-how but have lucrative energy investments in the Islamic Republic.

Winning consensus even for targeted sanctions such as travel bans on Iranian leaders could be a slow struggle given non-Western resentment that Iran is being singled out while nuclear proliferators such as India, Pakistan and Israel, all with good ties to the West, escape similar treatment.

IRAN DENIES MILITARY INTENT

Iran insists it wants only nuclear-generated electricity but hid atomic work from the IAEA for 18 years. Its recent calls for Israel's destruction have heightened alarm in the West.

Iran, which U.S. and Israeli officials accuse of backing Islamic militants in neighboring
Iraq and elsewhere has said previously it can create problems for Washington in the region.

Asked whether the Islamic Republic could use an "oil weapon," Vaeedi said: "We will not (do so now), but if the situation changes, we will have to review our oil policies."

Vaeedi said Iran remained opened to a negotiated deal, but added: "In any case, we will continue to exercise our (nuclear) research and development activities based on our right."

Iran has accused the United States of having orchestrated the IAEA move to report it to the Security Council as part of a U.S. policy of "regime change" in states it deems hostile.

The West has backed a Russian compromise formula for a joint venture to supply Tehran with low-enriched uranium for nuclear power plants as long as this takes place only on Russian soil.

But Moscow's offer has snagged on Iranian insistence in pursuing its own research with centrifuge enrichment machines

"Iran's unwillingness to cooperate fully with the IAEA, to do what is necessary to rebuild confidence ... has made Security Council action inevitable," EU3 powers said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Francois Murphy, Irwin Arieff at the United Nations, Carol Giacomo in Washington and Matt Spetalnick in New Orleans)


whomod said: I generally don't like it when people decide to play by the rules against people who don't play by the rules.
It tends to put you immediately at a disadvantage and IMO is a sign of true weakness.
This is true both in politics and on the internet."

Our Friendly Neighborhood Ray-man said: "no, the doctor's right. besides, he has seniority."