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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This article is from today's Australian. By the
way, did anyone go to the "hot rocks" lecture last week? How viable really is it
as an alternative to coal? Aren't all the potential spots too far away from the
grid? Jenny</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<H1>Iran threatens Gulf oil supplies</H1><CITE class=byline>Correspondents in
Tehran</CITE> <CITE class=author></CITE>
<DIV class=pub-date>June 05, 2006</DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<H4>IRAN'S supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned the US yesterday that
his country would disrupt Gulf oil supplies if Washington made a "single
mistake" over Iran.</H4>
<P class=encompass>Insisting that Tehran would never give up its "scientific
goals" in the face of "threats and bribes", Ayatollah Khamenei said the US and
its allies would not be able to provide security to all the oil shipments that
cross the strategic Hormuz Strait - within close range of Iran - in the event of
a disruption.
<P>"You threaten Iran," he said in a speech marking the 17th anniversary of the
death of Iran's Islamic revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. "You
say you want to direct energy in the region. If you make a single mistake about
Iran, the supply of energy will definitely be put in serious risk."
<P>The ayatollah's provocative remarks came as EU foreign policy chief Javier
Solana prepared to travel to Iran in the next few days to hand-deliver a
carrot-and-sticks package that aims to convince Tehran to stop enriching
uranium.
<P>The package, agreed last week by the five permanent members of the UN
Security Council and Germany, carries the threat of UN sanctions if Tehran
remains defiant over its nuclear program, which the West fears is a cover for
producing nuclear weapons.
<P>It includes an offer by the Bush administration to involve US officials in
direct talks with Iran for the first time in 27 years, if it halts nuclear fuel
production.
<P>In a day of mixed signals from Tehran, Iran's state-run television said
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that a
deal on the Islamic republic's nuclear program was possible, if the
International Atomic Energy Agency - the UN's nuclear watchdog - agreed to
Tehran's right to atomic energy.
<P>Later, Mr Ahmadinejad said Tehran would not be "in haste to judge" the
Western incentives package.
<P>"A breakthrough to overcome world problems, including Iran's nuclear case,
would be the equal implementation of the law for all," Mr Ahmadinejad reportedly
told Mr Annan during a telephone conversation.
<P>Speaking to thousands of people in the capital at the tomb of Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini, Mr Ahmadinejad said: "We won't make any prejudgment about the
proposal to be presented to us ... we won't be in haste to judge it.
<P>"We are after negotiations but fair and just negotiations. They must be
without any conditions."
<P>Ayatollah Khamenei declared that Iran's scientific achievements were a
"resource that our late imam had saved for us".
<P>"It represents our political independence and national self-confidence," he
said. "We should not sell out this precious resource because of the enemies'
threats and we should not be fooled by enemy bribes."
<P>Despite the deal on the incentives package, the ayatollah said there was no
consensus against Iran and reiterated his country's denial that it was
developing nuclear weapons. Iran's Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, also
said it was open to a negotiated solution.
<P>"We think that if there is goodwill, a breakthrough to get out of a situation
they (the EU and US) have created for themselves ... is possible," he said.
<P>"We are waiting to officially receive the proposals. We will make our views
known after studying the package. We will also mention if any part of the
package is not in Iran's interests."
<P>At an Asian security conference, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said
Washington was still hoping for a positive Iranian response to the new
incentives package.
<P>"The information has just been communicated to them, and it seems to me the
appropriate thing now to do is to wait and see which path the Iranian Government
will take," Mr Rumsfeld said.
<P>The Vatican, meanwhile, insisted diplomacy was the way to resolve the crisis.
<P>The Holy See "is firmly convinced that even the present difficulties can and
must be overcome through the diplomatic path, using all means which diplomacy
can avail itself of," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a
statement.
<P>Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and insists that
guarantees it the right to nuclear research for peaceful purposes. </P><A
href="mailto:jgoldie@snowy.net.au"></A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>