![\"French](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2005\/09\/de-villepin.jpg\" "\\"French")
Reuters, UNITED NATIONS, September 14 – France threatened Iran with referral to the United Nations over its nuclear activities on Wednesday despite the misgivings of the IAEA, the U.N.’s atomic watchdog agency.<\/p>\nReuters, UNITED NATIONS, September 14 – France threatened Iran with referral to the United Nations over its nuclear activities on Wednesday despite the misgivings of the IAEA, the U.N.’s atomic watchdog agency.<\/p>\n
In remarks to the U.N. Security Council, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin stressed the need for a "determined response" against weapons proliferation.<\/p>\n
"In the nuclear sphere, we have put our trust in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," where there are rights to uphold and duties to enforce, he said.<\/p>\n
"If a state fails in its obligations under the (Nuclear) Non-proliferation Treaty, it is legitimate, once dialogue has been exhausted, to refer it to the Security Council."<\/p>\n
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was due to address the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday and again on Saturday.<\/p>\n
At some point, he is expected to outline a new plan aimed at reviving suspended EU talks and fending off a referral.<\/p>\n
The IAEA fears that referring Iran to the Security Council now for possible sanctions over fears that Tehran wants to build nuclear arms would split its members, diplomats said.<\/p>\n
They said the watchdog would rather set a new deadline for Iran to halt sensitive work when the 35-nation IAEA governing board meets from Monday to decide.<\/p>\n
"Everything points in the direction of a need for more time. So it would be in everybody’s favor to give it some three or four weeks," a senior diplomat close to the Vienna-based IAEA told Reuters on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
The European Union’s three biggest powers — France, Britain and Germany — joined forces with Washington to back a Council referral after Tehran resumed sensitive nuclear activities at its Isfahan uranium processing plant last month.<\/p>\n
Work had been suspended under a November deal with the EU.<\/p>\n
The EU trio says it will not seek immediate sanctions and only gradually increase pressure on Iran, and EU diplomats said Wednesday nothing would be gained by delaying referral.<\/p>\n
Britain’s Foreign Office said this was an issue for the IAEA board, not IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, to decide. <\/p>\n
IRAN SAYS IT WON’T SUSPEND AGAIN<\/p>\n
Tehran denies wanting atom bombs and says the West would abridge Iran’s right to a full nuclear energy program. To undercut that argument, President George W. Bush on Tuesday publicly endorsed Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear power.<\/p>\n
Other diplomats said ElBaradei suggested to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the IAEA’s governing board could instead set a deadline for Iran to resume a suspension of sensitive atomic activities and help the U.N. resolve outstanding questions about Iran’s nuclear program.<\/p>\n
Iran has told the IAEA, however, that it will continue to cooperate with it, but only if it can exercise a right to enrich uranium, according to a statement obtained by Reuters. The statement was circulated to IAEA members this week.<\/p>\n
"There is no reason for Iran to sustain its … voluntary suspension of uranium conversion and enrichment," it said. <\/p>\n
DELAY SEEN UNDERMINING IAEA’S CREDIBILITY<\/p>\n
ElBaradei’s former deputy and chief IAEA inspector, Pierre Goldschmidt, wrote in a New York Times opinion piece that the IAEA board should not hesitate to report Iran for hiding its uranium enrichment program for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n
"A failure by the board to make such a report would considerably weaken the agency and the global non-proliferation regime. It would reveal that the world is unwilling to hold rule-breakers to account, inviting proliferation by other countries," wrote Goldschmidt, who retired this summer.<\/p>\n
EU diplomats said Ahmadinejad wanted to expand the EU-Iran talks to include countries like Russia, China, India or South Africa, which oppose U.N. referral and believe Iran should be allowed a full nuclear program.<\/p>\n
The EU has ruled out new talks unless Iran re-freezes work at Isfahan, which EU diplomats said was unlikely.
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