Rice: It's time for action against Iran

WASHINGTON -- Denouncing Iran's successful enrichment of uranium as unacceptable to the international community, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday the U.N. Security Council must consider "strong steps" to induce Tehran to change course.\nRice also telephoned Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to ask him to reinforce demands that Iran comply with the agency's nonproliferation requirements when he holds talks in Tehran on Friday.\nWhile Rice took a strong line, she did not call for an emergency meeting of the Council, saying it should consider action after receiving an IAEA report by April 28. She did not elaborate on what measures the United States would support, but economic and political sanctions are under consideration.\nThe European Union is considering travel restrictions on Iranian officials, but White House and State Department spokesmen said what exactly the Security Council might be asked to do was under \ndiscussion.\n"It's time for action, and that is what the secretary was expressing," said Scott \nMcClellan, White House spokesman. "The president wanted to make sure that she made that very clear to all that were listening."\nThe Security Council adopted a statement March 29 that gave Iran 30 days to clear up suspicion that it wants to become a nuclear power. The statement demanded Iran comply with IAEA demands that it suspend enrichment and allow unannounced IAEA inspections.\nIf Iran goes ahead with its enrichment program, the United States and European allies are certain to press for a Council resolution.\n"You can be sure that it needs to be more than a presidential statement at this point," McClellan said.\nAsked if the United States would be running a risk of a disagreement with other members of the Council by pushing for strong measures, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, "There is now a consensus Iran should not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapons program."\nIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, announcing Tuesday that his country had crossed the line into enrichment, said Iran's objectives were peaceful. Iran is said by many analysts to lack the equipment, including a nuclear reactor, to make nuclear weapons.\nBut Rice brushed aside suggestions that Iran was far from the goal the United States and its allies suspect -- nuclear weaponry.\nShe said the world believes Iran has the capacity and the technology that lead to nuclear weapons. "The Security Council will need to take into consideration this move by Iran," she said. "It will be time when it reconvenes on this case for strong steps to make certain that we maintain the credibility of the international community."\n"This is not a question of Iran's right to civil nuclear power," she said while greeting President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea. "This is a question of, ... the world does not believe that Iran should have the capability and the technology that could lead to a nuclear weapon."\nAt the private Arms Control Association, executive director Daryl Kimball said the administration should consider direct talks with Iran on the nuclear issue. And, he said in an interview, "the administration should be extending non-aggression pledges rather than implied threats in order to weaken Iran's rationale for a nuclear weapons program."\n"Otherwise," Kimball said, "the Bush administration is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure and military confrontation."\nAt the private Center for Strategic and International Studies, analyst Anthony Cordesman said, "What we need to understand when we call for strong action by the Security Council, we may not expect it today or on this particular round."\nBut, Cordesman added in an interview, "this issue is not going away. The more Iran pushes the tolerance of the international community to its limits, the more support the United States can count on in the future.\n"This is a very complex and uncertain process," he said.