Annan Strengthens Iran's Hand in Nuclear Stand-off

Daniel Dombey in Brussels, Roula Khalaf in Tehran and Arkady, Ostrovsky in Moscow, The Financial Times:

The European Union and the US face an increasingly difficult task if they are to win strong international backing to take Iran to the United Nations Security Council next month.

Not for the first time, Tehran is countering the west's diplomatic effort with a charm offensive of its own in the crisis over its nuclear programme, which Iran insists is purely peaceful, but which the US and Europe suspect is intended to develop nuclear weapons.

Yesterday saw Kofi Annan, UN secretary-general, cast doubt on the likely success of the EU-US push, and Russia and Iran emphasise their "fast growing ties" with each other. READ MORE

Mr Annan's comment could make it more difficult for the US and Europe to prevail on non-aligned countries to cast their votes against Iran.

The joint Russian-Iranian statement that followed a Moscow visit by Ali Larijani, Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator, indicates that Russia's position may, if anything, be hardening against swift referral to the Security Council.

The denouement of the current chapter in the dispute is set to come at the February 2-3 meeting of the 35-country board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN body that has to decide whether to refer the file to New York.

The present frenzied round of global diplomatic activity is testimony to the fact that the various sides have only a few days left to decide their formal positions. Further indications may come at a gathering of foreign ministers from the US, Russia, China and the EU at the margins of a conference in London early next week.

The EU and the US have to decide whether they will insist on a speedy referral to the UN, as has been their plan since Iran announced its intention to restart nuclear enrichment - the process that can produce nuclear weapons material. They know if they delay again, after having previously scaled back plans for a referral in September and November, it could be seen as a sign of weakness - not least by Tehran.

But they also know that there are likely to be four votes against them on the IAEA board - Venezuela, Cuba, Syria and Belarus - and that there is more scope for winning over waverers, if, as Mr Annan suggests, they delay a definitive UN referral to a meeting in March.

Already, a draft EU declaration, scheduled to be agreed at a regular monthly meeting of EU foreign ministers, speaks only of Europe's desire to "involve the Security Council" rather than to push for a Security Council resolution straight away.

A delay would allow more time for Iranian-Russian negotiations, the main international attempt to broker a deal, and for Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA director-general, to report on whether Iran has increased his agency's access to the sites and documents it wants to get a better picture of the nature of the nuclear programme.

Yesterday Mr Larijiani said the Russian proposal - which would see uranium enriched on Russian soil to prevent it being used for weapons - was "a good idea", according to IRNA, the official Iranian news agency.

Mr Larijani said "the site of the plant, the type of participation and technical co-operation" would be discussed in a follow-up meeting in mid-February - after the IAEA board meeting.

He added that any form of involvement by the UN, even if unofficial, would drive it to suspend all measures it agreed to voluntarily - including industrial uranium enrichment.