Iran Threatens To Retaliate

If Referred To U.N., Warns It Would Restart Full Scale Enrichment

(AP) 
In a letter dated Friday, Gregory L. Schulte, the chief U.S. representative to the IAEA, asked ElBaradei to prepare a written report on the "status of IAEA efforts to investigate indications of an Iranian nuclear weapons program" and on other activities Washington says are a cover for such a program. Supporting letters from the other countries also asking for a special report were dated Monday.

In a written reply dated Monday, ElBaradei said "a detailed report" would only be available in March, the next scheduled meeting of the IAEA board. Instead, he offered an "update brief" for the Feb. 2 meeting, to be read by a deputy.

The exchange in the letters, which were made available to AP, reflected differences between ElBaradei and the United States and its key allies over the handling of the Iran nuclear issue.

Diplomats close to the agency, who demanded anonymity for divulging confidential information, said the IAEA chief was unhappy about the push for a special board meeting and would have preferred to wait until the scheduled March session, when he hopes to end a more than three-year probe of Iran's nuclear dossier.

Iran repeatedly has said it is willing to offer guarantees that its nuclear program won't be used to manufacture weapons. But it has so far refused to give up what it calls its clear rights under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel.

In Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov encouraged Tehran to adopt a position that would help ease tensions.

"We count on discussing with you the so-called nuclear problem, around which the situation is currently being heightened," Lavrov said at the start of a meeting with Deputy Iranian Foreign Minister Mehdi Safari. "We hope that our Iranian friends will choose a position that helps to ease tension and renew negotiations."

Iran's top negotiator, Ali Larijani, will meet in Moscow with top Russian officials, including Russia's Security Council head Igor Ivanov, the council's press service said. Ivanov visited Iran last year.

Russia, which has veto power in the U.N. Security Council, has close ties with Tehran and is building Iran's first nuclear power reactor, but has been moving closer to the Western position on Iran and is reluctant to let the issue cause a major rift in its relations with the United States and Europe.