Iran's nuclear ambitions overshadow conference

The controversy over Iran's nuclear ambitions threatened to overshadow a conference on a key disarmament treaty yesterday, with world leaders telling Tehran to refrain from sensitive atomic activities.

UN Secretary-General opened a month-long review of the 1970 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that appeared deadlocked before it began. The United States wants the focus on Iran and North Korea's nuclear programmes while most other nations argue that Moscow and Washington retained too many dangerous bombs.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, urged Iran not to follow through on its threats to resume sensitive nuclear enrichment activities that could be used to produce atomic weapons.

"I would hope that the Iranians would not take a unilateral decision to initiate any activities that now are currently suspended," he said after a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi.

Iran warned on Saturday it may end its temporary suspension of uranium enrichment-related work this week after failing to reach a breakthrough in talks with the European Union over the long-term future of its disputed nuclear programme.

North Korea, which said it has nuclear weapons and withdrew from the NPT, apparently fired a short-range missile into the Sea of Japan on the eve of the conference, deepening tensions.

Sharing Washington's suspicions that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, the European Union has offered Tehran economic and political incentives if it scraps its nuclear fuel programme. Iran has rejected these allegations and says its programme is intended to fuel power plants, not weapons.

"I think it's important that the talks continue but the basis must be that the enrichment programme remains suspended," said German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. "I hope that the process will not collapse, but the Iranians know the alternative would be the Security Council."

Mr Annan, in his comments, urged nuclear powers to work towards a "reduced nuclear threat, and ultimately a world free of nuclear weapons". The United States and Russia have a combined arsenal of 28,000 of the world's 30,000 nuclear arms.

Nations like Iran "must not insist that they can only do so by developing capacities that might be used to create nuclear weapons," he said.

The 188 members of the treaty, the cornerstone in arms reduction treaties, meet every five years to review progress and set new goals. Only the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China are permitted to have nuclear arms while all other countries vow never to pursue atomic warheads.

But North Korea will not attend. India and Pakistan, which have nuclear weapons, and Israel, assumed to also have atomic arms, have not signed the treaty. The Bush administration, which has also scorned a nuclear test-ban treaty, is sending a mid-level delegation.