Britain has set Iran a two-month ultimatum to suspend all activities linked to the production of a nuclear bomb or face a demand for United Nations sanctions, the British press said Thursday.
Western counties see the meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in November as the “point of decision” on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program, the Times said, quoting an unidentified senior British official.
“Iran needs to meet its commitments,” another British official told The Guardian. “We would like it to meet its commitments before then, but if it doesn’t, Iran needs to know … now that there is going to be a decision point in November, and at that point a very serious option … is referral to the Security Council.
“We cannot have any kind of negotiation that goes on for ever,” the source said. “At some point you have to decide if negotiating further makes sense, or if you need to do something else.”
The Guardian said the new position was agreed by British, French and German foreign ministers at a meeting in the Netherlands at the weekend.
The deadline effectively marks the failure of over a year of negotiations between Tehran and the European troika.
Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot warned Wednesday that if the Security Council were to get involved in the matter it would spell the end of inspections in the Islamic Republic.
However, Undersecretary of State John Bolton, the chief U.S. policymaker on nonproliferation, rejected British claims Wednesday that Iran would have until November to cooperate.
“That’s the EU position, not our position. That’s definitely not agreed,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview.
He said the U.S. would press hard at next week’s IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna to send the Iran case immediately to the council.
Bolton was en route to talks this week in Geneva with senior nonproliferation officials from the Group of Eight industrial countries, and Iran would be the central topic. Iran pledged last year to suspend all enrichment-related activities but has since resumed building centrifuges. Tehran said last week it intended to process 37 tons of raw uranium into uranium hexafluoride.
Despite reneging on previous deals, Iran is negotiating again to halt nuclear activities in a fresh bid to avoid a referral to the Security Council.
U.S. officials on Wednesday again dismissed the prospective deal as “a suspension of the suspension of the suspension.” Discussing their approach to Security Council referral, the officials envisioned a period of debate and deadlines lasting as long as two years before sanctions might be sought.
“If the issue goes to the Security Council, this will increase the spotlight on Iran and make it even harder for them to acquire equipment to finish” their nuclear weapons programs, said one official.
Asked if the current strategy presumes no early sanctions, he said: “That’s exactly right.”
U.S. officials said even if they wanted to invoke sanctions, this would be vetoed by Russia, China and probably France.
As the IAEA meeting nears, the U.S. may call for a board vote on Iran, a break from deciding by consensus.
