Iran vows nuclear work to continue

TEHRAN -- Iran's chief nuclear negotiator said yesterday that his country stood ready to increase the scale of its uranium enrichment if its nuclear program is formally put before the UN Security Council this week.

Appearing relaxed and confident during a news conference despite mounting pressure from the international community, the negotiator, Ali Larijani, said Iran was willing to talk about many aspects of its nuclear program but that it would not suspend the small-scale enrichment activities it began this month.

Larijani spoke on the eve of a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, and on the same day that the US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said Iran faced ''tangible and painful consequences" if it did not bow to the wishes of the international community and cease enrichment.

Fielding questions for nearly two hours, Larijani said Iran's program was for the peaceful purposes permitted under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and that Iran was not harboring secret aims to produce nuclear weapons.

''Nuclear research is Iran's right, and we are not going to give that up," he said.

Iran has been seeking to persuade the international community that negotiations under the rubric of the IAEA should be given more time to succeed before the issue is referred to the Security Council.

Once the issue is at the Security Council, the five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China -- could work to impose sanctions on Iran's government, although diplomats say that is not expected to take place right away.

Such measures would be counterproductive, Larijani argued, saying they would compel Iran to reduce its cooperation with the IAEA and step up its fledgling enrichment activities.

''If the nuclear dossier is reported . . . we will certainly resume uranium enrichment. We wished to reach conclusion and eliminate the ambiguities through dialogue and understanding. But if the other side resorts to force, we will use our own approach," he said.

Larijani hinted that Iran might react by restricting its oil exports to drive up international prices.

''If conditions change, this may become effective," he said.

In spite of Iran's show of calm, the country has been in overdrive to convince the international community that it does not deserve to be put under a sanctions regime. Larijani held talks in Moscow and Vienna in recent days, and Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, toured Muslim countries in Asia to drum up sympathy for his country's position.

Iran says it is willing in principle to accept a Russian offer to have uranium enriched on an industrial scale on Russian soil at a joint facility, as long as Iran will eventually be allowed to do so on its own territory. It accuses the United States of trying to sabotage the Russian plan.

Western countries say they do not trust Iran to limit enrichment to the level needed for energy production. With a few adjustments, the enrichment process that produces civilian fuel can be used to make weapons-grade material.

US and European diplomats say Iran crossed a red line when it abandoned a three-year moratorium on nuclear enrichment activities in January.

Uranium enrichment and nuclear research for energy purposes are permitted under the nonproliferation treaty, but Mohammed ElBaradei, the chairman of the IAEA, has said he cannot be sure Iran has no military intentions.

Thousands of Iranians attended a government-inspired rally yesterday to back the government, and the Tehran Times, an English-language government newspaper, warned that Iran might cease all cooperation over the nuclear issue.

''Iran may have no option but to abandon the Non-Proliferation Treaty and end the inspections," the newspaper warned.