Europe owers to meet on Iran nuke program
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-12 19:46

The British, French and German foreign ministers meet Thursday to agree on a response to Iran's resumption of nuclear activities, with Britain's prime minister saying the West likely will push to refer a defiant Tehran to the U.N. Security Council.

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair leaves 10 Downing Street for his weekly Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons in London, Wednesday Jan. 11, 2006. [AP]

International impatience with Iran has grown since the country broke U.N. seals on its uranium enrichment plant Tuesday and said it was resuming nuclear research after a two-year freeze. The decision increased worries in the United States and other Western countries that Iran intends to produce nuclear weapons, while Russia, a longtime Iran ally, also expressed disappointment.

Enriched uranium can be used as a fuel for both nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is only for fuel.

At stake as the foreign ministers gather is their countries' two-year diplomatic effort to persuade Iran to halt its uranium conversion and enrichment activities.

A last-ditch round of European-Iranian talks had been scheduled for Jan. 18, but German Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler said Wednesday that the Europeans cannot continue negotiating with Iran unless it pledges not to enrich uranium.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair told Parliament Wednesday that Iran's latest move, coupled with a string of anti- Israel remarks by the country's new president, "cause real and serious alarm right across the world."

"I think the first thing to do is to secure agreement for a reference to the Security Council, if that is indeed what the allies jointly decide, as I think seems likely," Blair said.

The three countries have been negotiating with the backing of the United States, which has been seeking Tehran's referral to the Security Council.

"I think the next step will be probably to go before the U.N. Security Council," Vice President Dick Cheney told Fox News radio Wednesday. If that happens, Cheney said, sanctions "would be probably the number one item on the agenda."

Russia and China, both members of the International Atomic Energy Agency board that would have to approve referring Iran to the Security Council, have previously opposed the idea.

However, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said Wednesday that Russia and the United States share "a deep disappointment over Tehran's decision to leave behind the moratorium on all activities tied with uranium enrichment."

China on Thursday urged more talks, without saying whether it would back taking Tehran to the Security Council.

China "hopes that all parties concerned can exercise restraint and resolve this within the IAEA framework and through peaceful negotiations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said in Beijing. "We firmly believe this serves the interests of all parties concerned."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed to press ahead with the nuclear program.

"Unfortunately, a group of bullies allows itself to deprive nations of their legal and natural rights," he said. "I tell those superpowers that, with strength and prudence, Iran will pave the way to achieving peaceful nuclear energy."

"The Iranian nation is not frightened by the powers and their noise," he said.