Iran nuclear negotiator calls for atomic arms ban

[December 21, 2009]  TOKYO (AP) -- Iran's chief nuclear negotiator called for a global nuclear weapons ban on Monday but insisted all nations -- including his own -- have the right to develop nuclear energy.

Visiting Tokyo to meet with senior Japanese officials, Saeed Jalili said his country's nuclear program is for civilian purposes, although the U.S. and other nations fear its goal is to produce weapons.

"The crime that was committed in Hiroshima must never be repeated," Jalili told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, referring to the United States' dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, at the end of World War II.

"All the efforts of the world should be directed toward the eradication of these weapons," he said.

The administration of President Barack Obama -- who has also called for a world free of nuclear weapons -- has given a rough deadline of year-end for Iran to respond to an offer of engagement and show that it would allay world concerns about its nuclear program.

At the same time that it is trying to engage with Iran, the Obama administration has also been building momentum toward imposing more sanctions after the revelation in September that Iran was secretly building a second uranium-enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom.

In Paris on Monday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said there is no other choice than for the U.N. Security Council to impose new sanctions on Iran for Tehran's refusal to cooperate with international authorities on its nuclear program.

Kouchner says that he believes that all of the U.N. Security Council members will support new sanctions, which he says will be precise and target members of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government and its supporters. The Security Council is expected to take up the issue in January.

In the meantime, the U.S. and its allies are pressing Tehran to accept a U.N.-brokered plan under which Iran would ship the majority of its low-enriched uranium out of the country. That would temporarily leave Iran without enough uranium stockpiles to enrich further to produce a nuclear weapon.

Under the plan, the low-enriched uranium would be converted into fuel rods that would be returned to Iran for use in a research reactor in Tehran that produces medical isotopes. Fuel rods cannot be further enriched into weapons-grade material.

Iran has balked at the plan, and Jalili dodged questions Monday about Tehran's response to it. He accused the West of trying to "monopolize" the nuclear fuel supply by rejecting Iranian offers to buy fuel rods for its research reactor and then by making conditions on the uranium swap.

"Their behavior toward Iran is a very good example that shows how these countries want to monopolize this fuel," he said.

The U.N.-brokered plan was seen by the U.S. and its negotiating partners as a step toward building confidence in Iran's claim that its nuclear program is designed only for civilian pursuits -- medical purposes and to generate electricity.

"The Tehran reactor is for pharmaceutical use, for humanitarian use," Jalili said. "Using nuclear energy is the right of every nation."

In light of Iran's apparent resistance to the plan, the top U.S. military officer said Sunday he's worried about "the clock now running" on U.S. efforts to engage Iran.

"I grow increasingly concerned that the Iranians have been non-responsive. I've said for a long time we don't need another conflict in that part of the world," said Adm. Mike Mullen, who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "I'm not predicting that would happen, but I think they've got to get to a position where they are a constructive force and not a destabilizing force."

U.S. Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, told television network ABC on Monday that "sanctions have to be tried before we explore the last option," like a military attack.

On Monday, Jalili met with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, who voiced strong concern over Iran's nuclear program, according to a Foreign Ministry official who declined to be named.

Jalili, who plans to visit Hiroshima this week, also made a thinly veiled jab at Obama by criticizing his decision to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan.

"While giving the slogan of 'change,' these people are adopting the same approach of power and militarism," he said.

[Associated Press; By MALCOLM FOSTER]

National Security Writer Anne Gearan, traveling with Mullen, contributed to this report.

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