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UN Chief Travels To Iran

PRAGUE, September 2, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has arrived in Tehran, where he is expected to discuss with Iranian officials the cease-fire in Lebanon, as well as Iran's standoff with the West over its nuclear program.

Annan is scheduled to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki and the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, who is also Iran's chief nuclear negotiator.

The UN secretary-general is due to meet President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on September 3.

Annan, who has been on a weeklong trip to the Middle East to bolster the Lebanon truce, arrived in Tehran from Syria.

Iran and Syria are seen as the main backers of Hizballah, the target of the Israeli military campaign. But on his last stop -- in Damascus on September 1 -- Annan said President Bashar al-Assad had pledged Syrian help in enforcing the Lebanon cease-fire by working to prevent arms smuggling across its border to Hizballah.

Annan will be keen to receive Iranian support for that endeavor as well during his meetings in Tehran.

But the nuclear issue will also be at the top of their agenda, following Iran’s failure on August 31 to meet a UN deadline to suspend its enrichment of uranium.

Missing the deadline opens the door to possible UN sanctions, an issue the United States has urged the Security Council to tackle.

John Bolton, America’s UN envoy, said on September 1 that U.S. President George W. Bush "has been very emphatic that it is unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons."

Ahmadinejad on September 1 reiterated that Iran has no intention of giving up its right to peaceful nuclear technology.

In an interview with RFE/RL's Radio Farda, Gregory Schulte, the U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, said the United States "strongly [supports] the peaceful use of nuclear technology, including by Iran." However, he said that that Iran's uranium enrichment activities "are not necessary for civil nuclear power" and that "after three years of intensive verification work" the head of the IAEA, Muhammad el-Baradei, "cannot certify that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful."

So far, the United States has failed to convince all veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council that sanctions are necessary.

Russia and China have dismissed any talk of sanctions, and the European Union on September 1 stated that it is too early to impose sanctions on Iran for its failure to heed the UN.

But EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana noted that Iran does not have an "indefinite" period of time to resolve the standoff.

Annan's challenge in Tehran will be to keep that pressure on Iran, while seeking a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org