Slim chance for Iran to avoid Security Council - Straw

Reuters | January 28 2006

Iran has little chance of avoiding being hauled before the U.N. Security Council unless it changes its stance on nuclear fuel enrichment, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Saturday.

But Straw would not say directly if he still expected the U.N. nuclear watchdog to decide on a Security Council referral next week -- a prospect that has receded in recent days because of Russian and Chinese reservations.

Asked if such a decision was still possible at the February 2 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Straw told Reuters Television that Iran was "very clearly" not complying with its nuclear non-proliferation obligations.

"We are trying to persuade Iraq to come back into compliance. There is some intense diplomacy taking place over this weekend. We will make judgements in the light of discussions which will occur on Monday in London amongst the permanent five Security Council foreign ministers," he said.

Speaking earlier at the World Economic Forum, he said the London meeting would discuss what kind of resolution to put to the IAEA's board of governors after Iran this month moved towards resuming sensitive atomic fuel research.

"If that remains the position, then I think the chances of them avoiding a reference to the Security Council are low," Straw said.

"We would much prefer to resolve this within the IAEA, that's what it's there for, but the IAEA statutes also make clear that where you can't resolve this issue and they're non-compliant -- and they are -- then the matter goes to the Security Council."

While Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, Straw reiterated that it needed to provide "objective guarantees" on this.

"We have no certainty that they have those (weapons) intentions," he said.

But he added: "The working assumption in the international community from all sides is that is is prudent to assume at the least that Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability so that they can have the choice at some stage...to activate it."

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