TEHRAN, March 12: Iran on Sunday upped the stakes in the standoff over its atomic programme, saying a Russian compromise proposal was no longer on the table and threatening to quit an international nuclear treaty.

The comments by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his spokesman came days before Iran’s nuclear drive is due to be discussed on the UN Security Council.

Mr Mottaki, whose country has vehemently defended its right to carry out sensitive uranium enrichment, threatened that Iran could quit the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which governs the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

“If we reach a point where the existing mechanisms do not provide for the right of the Iranian people, then the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran would be possibly revised and reconsidered,” Mr Mottaki told reporters, in response to a question over whether Iran would consider leaving the NPT.

“At the moment we believe that there is a chance for different sides to continue the negotiations,” he added on the sidelines of an international conference on energy and security in Asia.

Iran also said the Russian compromise proposal — which would see Iran enriching uranium on Russian soil — was no longer on its agenda now that the nuclear case is being handled by UN Security Council.

“The conditions have changed now, the Russian proposal is not on the agenda. The Islamic republic will not give up its rights,” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told reporters.

A spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry said it was studying the comments, ‘after which adjustments will be made’.

Although Tehran has proposed suspending industrial-scale enrichment, it is refusing to halt enrichment research — but Western powers argue that even this would allow it to acquire nuclear weapons know-how.

On Wednesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency sent an assessment report on Iran’s programme to the Security Council after a failed three-year-old probe to confirm the true nature of Iran’s activities.

The standoff has escalated in recent months, with Tehran insisting it will not stop the sensitive enrichment activities that the West suspects are cover for developing an atomic bomb. Iran vehemently denies the charges.

On Friday, the five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council held another round of private talks on how to tackle the crisis ahead of an expected meeting by the full 15-member council.

The council, which unlike the IAEA has the power to impose sanctions and can even authorise military action, is first expected to endorse demands that Tehran halt uranium enrichment — a reactor fuel-making process that can be extended to weapons development.

Iran — OPEC’s second biggest oil producer — has been sending mixed messages over whether it would use its oil exports as a weapon in the case of action from the UN Security Council.

Mr Mottaki insisted Iran would remain a reliable energy supplier, a day after the interior minister issued a new warning on Iranian oil exports.

“The Islamic republic of Iran is determined to be a reliable and effective energy supplier for Asian countries and not to use oil to implement its foreign policy,” Mr Mottaki said.

However, Iranian media reported apparently contradictory remarks from Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi that suggested Iran could use oil as a weapon if it was hit by economic sanctions over its nuclear programme.

“We have energy, we have both our big consumer market and that of the region, and we have control over the biggest and the most sensitive energy route in the world,” said Pour-Mohammadi. —AFP

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