WASHINGTON, April 12: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the UN Security Council on Wednesday to take ‘strong steps’ against Iran following Tehran’s assertion that it had enriched uranium.
Ms Rice said the announcement from Tehran was further proof it was not adhering to requirements already set out by the international community.
“I do think the Security Council will need to take into consideration this move by Iran,” Ms Rice said at the State Department. She urged that when the council reconvenes it take ‘strong steps to make certain to maintain the credibility of the international community’.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA chief, is scheduled to visit Iran on Thursday to seek full Iranian cooperation with the Security Council and IAEA inquiries, a trip now clouded by Mr Ahmadinejad’s speech.
The IAEA, whose inspectors are in Iran investigating nuclear sites, has given no comment on Iran’s statements.
But an agency diplomat told reporters in Vienna: “The timing was strange but it may have been intended by them to improve their bargaining position.”
The Security Council has told Iran to halt all sensitive atomic activities and on March 29 it asked the IAEA to report on its compliance in 30 days.
STATE DEPTT: Earlier in the day, the State Department said it was unable to confirm that Iran had enriched uranium while experts appearing on various television talk shows said even if Tehran’s assertions were correct, it would still be years before it was able to produce a nuclear weapon.
Agencies add: World powers on Wednesday voiced concern over Iran’s announcement that it had successfully enriched uranium to make nuclear fuel, describing the move in unison as a ‘step in the wrong direction’.
The phrase was used verbatim by officials from France, Germany, Russia and the United States, indicating a rare international consensus disapproving of Iran’s latest act of brinkmanship.
Russia, which is involved in building Iran’s first nuclear reactor and is a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, called President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s announcement ‘a step in the wrong direction’.
A foreign ministry spokesman urged Tehran to suspend all uranium enrichment activity, including that for scientific research purposes — a contrast to the diplomatic support Russia had given in earlier stages of the dispute.
