KEY POINTS:
UNITED NATIONS - Russia today disputed a report that it gave Iran an ultimatum to halt uranium enrichment but diplomats say Moscow has linked sending Tehran nuclear fuel to proliferation concerns.
Russian officials vigorously denied a New York Times story which said Moscow had told Tehran that unless
it suspend uranium enrichment Russia would withhold fuel for a light water reactor being built at Bushehr, in southern Iran.
"There have been no Russian ultimatums to Iran of any kind," Moscow's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters. "The word threat is not in the Russian vocabulary."
But three diplomats interviewed by Reuters in Washington and in Europe said Moscow, using softer words, had made clear several days ago that it would not deliver the fuel until Iran complies with a December UN Security Council resolution demanding that it suspend enrichment.
Russia recently has been instrumental in negotiating a UN Security Council draft resolution that would tighten existing sanctions against Iran, particularly a list of financial penalties on officials and institutions.
"The Russians made it very clear to us that they will not deliver the fuel for political reasons," said a European envoy, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The word 'ultimatum' is clumsy. But the Iranians are under no illusions."
The United States and leading Europeans say Iran is trying to develop an atom bomb under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme. Tehran says its programme is for power generation. Uranium enrichment can be used for energy or for bomb making.
Russian officials have said a dispute over payments is behind delays with the US$1 billion reactor. But John Bolton, the former US Ambassador to the United Nations, believes that is just an excuse.
"We have repeatedly asked the Russians not to ship fuel to the Bushehr reactor until it became clear what Iran was up to," Bolton told reporters in New York.
"There is nothing new in Russia withholding the fuel from Bushehr and there are commercial disputes between them that have held it up," Bolton said. "That is certainly a good and sufficient excuse for the Russians not to ship the fuel."
He said Russia's atomic energy agency had made clear for years their concern about Iran's nuclear ambitions.
"In reality -- and Russian officials have acknowledged this to me personally -- they know exactly why they are withholding the fuel and that's fear that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme," Bolton said.
Still Russia's Churkin remained adamant there was no link between Bushehr and the UN sanctions resolution, saying that despite financial disputes "our deal with the Iranians is on track."
"We continue to work on the Bushehr project as a separate economic project, which has nothing to do with the previous (sanctions) resolution and the current resolution," he said.
The 15-nation UN Security Council is discussing a draft resolution imposing an embargo on exports of conventional weapons and a freeze of assets on a list of Iranian officials and institutions, including the Revolutionary Guards and the companies it runs and Iran's state-owned Bank Sepah.
In December it passed a resolution banning trade in sensitive nuclear materials as well as an assets freeze on individuals and institutions associated with atomic programmes.
On Tuesday South Africa, a council member, circulated amendments to the latest draft that delete nearly all the main points of the text, negotiated by Germany and the permanent Security Council members with veto rights -- Russia, the United States, Britain, France and China.
The full council met informally today and Indonesia and Qatar also proposed some amendments that negotiators said might be acceptable. Further talks are planned for Thursday.
In Berlin, the government said Chancellor Angela Merkel had spoken with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and that both supported quick approval of the latest resolution.
The six negotiators intend to send the council a letter setting out their reasons for the resolution.
- REUTERS