US: A senior US State Department official has said he expects Iran to reject a UN-backed entreaty to end its nuclear enrichment programme, and added that the US will quickly press for international sanctions against Tehran if the August 31st deadline is not met.
Undersecretary of state R Nicholas Burns, the Bush administration's point man on Iran, said on Thursday he believed the US has the backing of fellow permanent members of the UN Security Council for economic and diplomatic sanctions and would push for them to be imposed early in September if Tehran fails to halt uranium enrichment at its Natanz nuclear facility.
"We would want to move very quickly," Mr Burns said of getting UN approval of sanctions. "They will be well deserved."
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and foreign ministers from the other four permanent members of the security council, plus Germany, agreed on June 1st to offer a package of incentives to convince the Iranian government to end its enrichment programme and admit international inspectors.
The offer was followed by a security council resolution at the end of last month calling on Iran to respond to the terms by the end of August or face sanctions. Pressure was growing on Tehran when the Lebanon-Israel war broke out in July and some analysts have speculated that Iran capitalised on the conflict to deflect attention from the nuclear issue.
But Mr Burns said he believed the war between Israel and Hizbullah has strengthened the hand of US officials in the nuclear stand-off, saying it has laid bare Tehran's larger ambitions to become a more influential power in the region.
"If you're looking at the impact the Lebanon war will have on the security council debate on the Iran nuclear issue, I think there is greater concern now about the role of Iran in the Middle East than there had been before," said Mr Burns in a meeting of defence writers.
Iran has given mixed signals on whether it will respond to the UN deadline. Iranian leaders had indicated they would answer by a self-imposed August 22nd deadline. But the regime was angered by the UN resolution, seeing it as a threat, and indicated it may not respond to the offer at all.
Iranian officials have indicated all along that they would not abandon their nuclear ambitions, which they have characterised as intended solely for civilian use.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated that stance on Thursday during a visit to the northwestern Iranian town of Namin. According to the semi-official Fars news agency, Mr Ahmadinejad dismissed the security council resolution and said Iran may never give up its nuclear programme.
"They must know that the entire Iranian nation is determined to maintain its right of access to peaceful nuclear technology and that Iranians' support for the state's nuclear stances is rock solid," Mr Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
Although last month's UN Security Council resolution was passed 14-1, Russia and China have expressed reluctance to immediately impose sanctions on Iran and backed away from language that would have made the sanctions automatic.
As a result, a failure by Iran to meet the August 31st deadline would lead to a new round of debates at the United Nations.
There is no list of sanctions that have been agreed upon, state department spokesman Tom Casey said. But US officials have indicated they would initially seek measures that would steer clear of directly affecting ordinary Iranian people.