Iran defiant in face of UN nuclear moves

TEHRAN - Iranian leaders were defiant today in the face of growing pressure by Western nations to have a resolution demanding Iran curb its nuclear ambitions ready by Monday.

Influential cleric Ahmad Khatami told worshippers at prayers in Tehran that any country which chose confrontation with Iran would regret the move "forever".

France, Britain and Germany, with US backing, have drafted a UN resolution that demands a halt to Iran's nuclear fuel programme, which they fear is aimed not only at generating power but also at developing arms. Tehran denies the charge.

"The US and the Security Council can rest assured that Iran is not a country to retreat in the face of bullying resolutions," Khatami said.

Resolution sponsors have warned they would push for targeted sanctions if Iran, the world's fourth biggest oil exporter, defied the United Nations.

Khatami, no relation of the former liberal President Mohammad Khatami, is a hardliner who sits on the Assembly of Experts, the body of 86 clerics that constitutionally supervises Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"Iran is a strategically sensitive part of the region. Be assured that Iran's insecurity means insecurity for the Middle East and the smoke will sting your eyes too," he added, in remarks broadcast live on state radio.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today the United Nations should not be a mouthpiece for just a few nations and must act within international law in dealing with Iran's uranium enrichment programme.

"Every decision made by international organisations should be in accordance with international laws," the Iranian president told a news briefing on a visit to Azerbaijan's capital. "If it is not, those decisions do not have legitimacy."

Tehran says that any call for Iran to suspend its nuclear activities breaches international laws that enshrine countries' rights to develop nuclear energy.

"International organisations are created to defend the rights of nations," he said, referring to the United Nations.

"(They) should not work as mouthpieces for two or three countries and just translate those countries' interests. If that happens, then there will be no need for them (international organisations)," Ahmadinejad said in an apparent reference to nations within the US Security Council pushing a resolution.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today Moscow has yet to decide on whether Iran should be considered a threat, saying it would be guided by UN nuclear experts on the issue.

The United States, Britain, France, Russia and China are the council's five veto-wielding permanent members. UN envoys from the major powers are expected to hold talks on the draft resolution today and throughout the weekend if necessary.

Lavrov was responding to remarks from his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, that Russia and China "had officially told us ... (of) their opposition to sanctions and military attacks" against the Islamic Republic.

"We have made no such announcements. In such an important and serious area like nuclear non-proliferation, we can make a decision only based on the opinions of experts," Lavrov told reporters.

US Vice President Dick Cheney, visiting Kazakhstan, urged Iran to take a lesson from the ex-Soviet Central Asian state and renounce nuclear arms to resolve the stand-off.

Kazakhstan gave up the nuclear arsenal it inherited from the Soviet Union shortly after independence in 1991.

"I think that the example provided by Kazakhstan some years ago when it achieved independence of giving up the inventory of nuclear weapons deployed in Kazakhstan was an outstanding example of what the Iranians might want to consider," Cheney said after talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Cheney, speaking to reporters in the Kazakh capital Astana, said Washington was working with others to find a diplomatic solution "that will avoid a confrontation on this issue".

"We think that we need to find a way diplomatically to avoid the kind of problems that would result from an Iran with nuclear weapons," he said.

- REUTERS