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Iran threatens US with 'harm and pain'
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-08 20:54
Iran threatened the United States with "harm and pain" Wednesday for its role
in hauling Tehran before the U.N. Security Council over its disputed nuclear
program.
"The United States has the power to cause harm and pain," Iran said a
statement meant for delivery at the International Atomic Energy Agency's
35-nation board meeting in Vienna on Iran's refusal to freeze uranium
enrichment.
"But the United States is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if that is
the path that the U.S. wishes to choose, let the ball roll."
In statements for the same meeting, the United States and its European allies
said Iran's intransigence over its nuclear program has left the world no choice
but to ask for the U.N. Security Council to take action against the Islamic
regime.
"The time has now come for the Security Council to act," Gregory Schulte, the
U.S. delegate to the IAEA, told board members. "Iran has still not come clean."
Schulte listed Iran's decision to curtail IAEA inspections, its expanding
uranium enrichment program and worrying conclusions by IAEA inspectors that
suggest at least past interest in nuclear arms as contributing to "mounting
international concerns" about Tehran's nuclear intentions.
The IAEA meeting is in effect the last step before the Security Council
begins to consider Iran's nuclear plans, which could lead to possible sanctions.
Iran's president said earlier Wednesday that his country will not back down from
plans to enrich uranium domestically.
Iran's statement against the United States was unusually harsh, reflecting
Tehran's frustration at failing to deflect the threat of Security Council action
against it in the coming weeks.
It attacked the "warmongers in Washington" for what it said was an unjust
accusation that Tehran's nuclear intentions were mainly for military use. And it
suggested the United States was vulnerable, despite its strength.
"Surely we are not naive about the United States' ... intention to flex
muscles," said the statement. "But we also see the bone fractures underneath."
It also threatened broader retaliation, without being specific, saying Iran
"will adapt our policy and adjust our approach to conform with the new
exigencies."
France, Germany and Britain, which spearheaded the Feb. 4 IAEA resolution
clearing the path for Security Council action, warned that what is known about
Iran's enrichment program could represent only "the tip of the iceberg."
"We believe that the time has ... come for the U.N. Security Council to
reinforce the authority" of the IAEA and its board, said a draft statement by
the three European countries.
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