Text size:

Iran scoffs at Europe's nuke offer

Ahmadinejad ridicules EU plan to build him a light-water reactor if he halts uranium enrichment

BY MOHAMAD BAZZI | Newsday Middle East Correspondent

May 18, 2006

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday ridiculed a European offer meant to persuade Iran to halt its uranium enrichment - even before the offer has been officially made.

"Do you think you are dealing with a 4-year-old child to whom you can give some walnuts and chocolates, and take away gold from him?" Ahmadinejad said in a nationally televised speech. He insisted Iran would not give up its right to enrich uranium at any price.

The European Union is considering building a light-water nuclear reactor for Iran as part of a package of financial and trade incentives. In return, Tehran would have to abandon its enrichment - a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or material for bombs. A light-water reactor is less likely to be used for developing weapons than the heavy-water reactor Iran is building now.

Iran insists its activities are legal and it wants technology for nuclear energy, not weapons. But the United States and Europe say Tehran is secretly developing an arms program.

Last year, Iran rejected a European plan to help build a light-water reactor and provide trade incentives. In the new offer, European officials are expected to commit more strongly to building and financing the reactor.

The Bush administration, which opposes giving Iran any enticements to abandon its nuclear program, reacted coolly to the European initiative. Officials from the five veto-wielding members of the United Nations Security Council were to meet in London tomorrow to discuss the offer, but that meeting has been delayed until next week.

Ahmadinejad, who has taken the most hard-line positions within the Iranian regime on nuclear development, was almost condescending in his rejection of the European proposal.

"When did we reach out a begging hand so that you [Europe] can think that with incentives you can withhold our rights to scientific progress?" he told a crowd of thousands in the Iranian province of Markazi. In response, the throng chanted, "Ahmadinejad, we love you."

Iran had agreed in 2003 to suspend its nuclear activities while it negotiated with European officials. Europe and the United States then demanded it permanently end its enrichment. "We accepted suspension once. ... We will not be bitten twice," Ahmadinejad said, extending his right hand to the crowd.

But some Iranian officials might want to pursue the European deal as a way out of the current standoff, which could end with international sanctions or even military action against Tehran. After repeatedly denying the Holocaust and calling for the destruction of Israel, Ahmadinejad has isolated himself from much of the West. He also filled Iran's nuclear negotiations team with hard-liners.

"Even after Ahmadinejad's declarations, pragmatists within the government have shown willingness to negotiate," said Abbas Maleki, Iran's former deputy foreign minister. "Much of Iran's political elite does not seem ready to engage in a risky undertaking that might jeopardize the very existence of the Islamic government."

There are two competing camps in the Iranian regime, pursuing different strategies for dealing with the nuclear impasse. In one faction, there is Ahmadinejad and other hard-liners who prefer confrontation with the West. In the other, there is Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a two-time Iranian president and head of the country's Expediency Council. He and others have urged negotiations with Europe.

In its first move on the issue, the Security Council adopted a statement March 29 calling on Iran to end its uranium enrichment and cooperate with UN inspectors. The statement, approved by all 15 council members, is not legally binding and did not refer to any consequences if Iran failed to comply.

Last month, Iran announced with great fanfare that it had successfully developed a centrifuge cascade to enrich uranium, which eventually could be used to produce weapons-grade fuel.

A North Korea deal similar to the European deal collapsed in 2002 when the world learned North Korea had a secret weapons program.