IRAN - July 13 - Tehran Defies Big Powers And Asserts Atom Rights.

In a defiant statement, Tehran says that it will not abandon its right to nuclear technology, though major powers at the UN and in the European Union have decided to send the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program to the Security Council . But Pres Bush kept up the pressure, saying Tehran could not "wait us out" and Germany warned "other steps" would be necessary if Tehran did not respond to incentives to rein in its atomic work. Five permanent Security Council members, the US, France, Britain, Russia and China, plus Germany, backed a package calling for Iran to halt uranium enrichment in return for economic and diplomatic incentives. But they asked the Council on July 12 to intervene after Tehran failed to reply. "The Iranian nation abides by international laws and regulations but will not abandon its obvious right to obtain nuclear technology", Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, was quoted as saying by state TV. The West says Iran wants to enrich uranium to produce atomic bombs, a charge Iran denies. It has refused to halt the work. "We are trying to investigate the proposed package positively", Ahmadinejad said in comments carried by Iran's Fars News Agency, but repeated that Iran would give its final reply by Aug. 22 despite pressure for a swifter response. France said world powers had agreed on drawing up a UN resolution "in a few days" telling Iran to stop sensitive atomic work. If it refused by mid-August, another resolution would be proposed under an article of the UN charter that allows for economic sanctions but not military force. Russia and China, which both have commercial interests in Iran, are not expected to back tough measures against Iran. The Russian FM, Sergey Lavrov, said the major powers were not yet considering imposing sanctions on Iran. Lavrov has said using force was "absolutely excluded". Analysts say Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, may calculate such divisions mean it is only likely to face modest steps like travel bans on officials or asset freezes, measures they say Iran may believe it can weather. The West says Iran is miscalculating if this is its view. "The Iranians must realize that they can't wait us out", Bush said after meeting with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who warned of "other steps" if Iran did not reply. A spokesman for the British PM, Tony Blair, said Iran was "making a mistake" if it believed there was a division. A diplomat based in Vienna said Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, irked the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, at July 11 talks by "beating around the bush". "It was an empty negotiating session", an EU diplomat said. The Iranians didn't ask anything about the proposals "but made long statements complaining about the level of trust", he said, adding that the EU did not expect further contacts with Iran. Ahmadinejad said Iran was ready for talks but also repeated threats that it might, if pushed, review co-operation with the UN watchdog, the IAEA, and review adherence to the NPT.