US:The Bush administration has dismissed an Iranian offer to suspend its nuclear fuel production if the United States and other western countries do the same, reports Denis Stauntonin Washington.
Tehran's offer came as the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said that Iran could be just six months away from being able to enrich uranium on an industrial scale, although it was still five to 10 years away from developing a nuclear weapon.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is today expected to declare that Iran has missed a UN deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, which can produce nuclear fuel and, at high levels, weapons-grade nuclear material.
"Short of a major change of heart, I would report that Iran has not complied with the demand of the international community to suspend," he told the Financial Times. The UN security council imposed sanctions on Iran last December and warned that further measures could follow if Tehran failed to suspend uranium enrichment by today.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that Iran would halt its uranium enrichment programme and return to negotiations if western countries reciprocated.
"Justice demands that those who want to hold talks with us shut down their nuclear fuel cycle programme too. Then, we can hold dialogue under a fair atmosphere," he said.
White House spokesman Tony Snow dismissed the Iranian offer, insisting that Iran must unilaterally suspend uranium enrichment to comply with December's security council resolution.
"The fact is that we are perfectly happy to help Iran acquire civilian nuclear power. We are not, however - and the international community has made it clear that Iran should not be in a position to develop or possess nuclear weapons . . . That is a false offer because the position of the international community is clear," he said.
Washington wants the UN to impose tougher sanctions on Iran if it misses today's deadline but Mr ElBaradei said sanctions alone would prove ineffective unless they are accompanied by negotiations.
"Our experience without exception is that sanctions alone do not work and in most cases radicalise the regime and hurt the people who are not supposed to be hurt. So I have a major concern not about sanctions per se but sanctions alone. And sanctions have to be coupled at all times with incentives and a real search for a compromise based on face- saving, based on respect," he said.
Mr El Baradei said it was now too late to stop Iran acquiring the knowledge needed to produce a nuclear weapon but added that British and US intelligence reports suggest the country is at least five years away from actually developing an atomic bomb.
"Even if the Iranian programme is for peaceful purposes there is no question that at the back of their minds this is a deterrent, that it has a deterrence value as it were. So we need to understand that . . . but to aim at denying a country knowledge is almost impossible, to say the least. And there's a big difference between acquiring the knowledge for enrichment and developing a bomb," he said.
Warning that "you can't bomb knowledge", Mr El Baradei said that any military strike against Iran by the US or Israel would be at best ineffective and at worst counterproductive.
"We know that if you jolt a country's pride, all the factions, right, left and centre will get together and try to accelerate a programme to develop a nuclear weapon to defend themselves," he said.