IRAN: Iran threatened yesterday to attack Israel in response to any "evil" act by the US and said it had enriched uranium to a level close to the maximum compatible with civilian use in power stations.
The defiant statements were issued shortly before world powers met in Paris late last night to plan their next moves after Tehran rejected a UN call to halt uranium enrichment.
Senior officials from the UN Security Council's permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - plus Germany, discussed how to curb an Iranian programme that Western nations say conceals a drive for atomic warheads.
Iran denies the charge and refuses to back down from what it calls its right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. Driving home that message, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, said his country had now succeeded in purifying uranium to 4.8 per cent, at the top end of the 3 to 5 per cent range for fuel used in nuclear power plants. "Enrichment above 5 per cent is not on Iran's agenda," Mr Aghazadeh said. Iran has previously said it had enriched to more than 4 per cent, far below the 80 per cent level needed for bomb-making.
It has used a test cascade of 164 centrifuges to enrich uranium so far and is building two similar cascades. It says it will start installing 3,000 centrifuges later this year - which could yield enough material for one bomb within a year.
The US and Israel have vowed to deny Iran nuclear weapons. Washington has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails and Tehran has sworn to retaliate if attacked.
"We have announced that wherever America does something evil, the first place that we target will be Israel," senior Revolutionary Guards commander Rear Admiral Mohammad-Ebrahim Dehqani said yesterday.
Iran's deputy oil minister said there was "some possibility" of a US attack on his country over its nuclear programme. "I am worried. Everybody is worried," Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian said in New Delhi after talks on a proposed $7 billion pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan.
Concerns that Iran's dispute with the West could lead to disruption of its oil output pushed oil prices above $74 a barrel, close to the record of $75.35.
The US, Britain and France are expected to introduce a resolution to the Security Council this week that would legally oblige Iran to comply with UN demands. The three countries favour limited sanctions if Tehran remains defiant.
Iran said Russia and China, also veto-wielding permanent council members, would not back any punitive measures. "The thing these two countries have officially told us, and expressed in diplomatic negotiations, is their opposition to sanctions and military attacks," foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said.
In New York, China's UN ambassador, Wang Guangya, said he had seen an outline of a proposed Security Council resolution on Iran being drafted by Britain. "There are some elements that might cause difficulties," he said.