By James Kilner
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia toughened its stance towards Iranon Wednesday, threatening to back further United Nationssanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme unless it halteduranium enrichment in the next few days.
The United States, Britain and France are pushing to imposenew punitive measures on Iran, which they suspect of seeking toacquire a nuclear weapon.
Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin said Moscow could back asanctions resolution the Western powers have drafted and whichthey want to discuss in the U.N. Security Council this week.
"If Iran in the next few days does not stop the enrichmentactivities of its heavy water project then yes, Russia ... hastaken upon itself certain commitments... to support theresolution that has been drafted in the past month," Churkintold reporters via a video link from New York.
The Security Council has demanded Iran halt uraniumenrichment, the part of its nuclear programme that most worriesthe West because the process can potentially be used to makematerial for bombs.
Iran has refused to halt the work. It says it is seeking tomaster nuclear technology so it can make fuel for a plannednetwork of nuclear power plants and save its huge oil and gasreserves for export.
France and Britain have submitted a third sanctionsresolution against Iran calling for measures including assetfreezes and mandatory travel bans for specific Iranianofficials.
It also expands the list of Iranian officials and companiestargeted by the sanctions. Earlier rounds of sanctions wereimposed in December 2006 and March 2007.
Russia, which has strong ties to Iran's energy industry,has previously been reluctant to impose more U.N. sanctions onIran.
Though it agreed on the outline of the sanctions resolutionlast month in Berlin, some Western diplomats had expressedconcern Russia might try to weaken the resolution out of piqueover the West's recognition of Kosovo.
In Vienna, the chief U.S. envoy to the International AtomicEnergy Agency said Iran's dismissal of intelligence indicatingit tested technology relevant to nuclear bombs could trigger aresolution by the nuclear watchdog's governors to put furtherpressure on Iran.
"We haven't made a decision on a resolution but it could bean effective way to convey this message," Gregory Schulte toldReuters in an interview.
Iran has denounced the intelligence, which came mainly froma laptop spirited out of Iran in 2004 and handed to Washington,as baseless and fabricated.
INCENTIVES?
Major powers are also discussing possible new moves to drawIran into negotiations over its nuclear programme, EU foreignpolicy chief Javier Solana confirmed on Wednesday.
"It's been a debate of the political directors of the sixcountries," Solana told Reuters on the margins of a conferencein Brussels, when asked about the possibility of new stepsinvolving incentives to Tehran.
He was referring to the five permanent Security Councilmembers -- the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain-- plus Germany.
Political directors from the six met in Washington onMonday when they agreed to move ahead soon on the additionalsanctions.
U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said thepolitical directors were examining how a 2006 incentives offercould be presented in a way Iran would find attractive.
That offer included talks with the United States on anysubject if Tehran suspended uranium enrichment; airline partsfor civilian planes and dropping objections to entry to theWorld Trade Organisation.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday it wasnot inevitable that Iran would produce a nuclear bomb. Israelregards Iran's nuclear programme as a threat to its existence.
"I think there is time," said Olmert, asked by reportersduring a visit to Japan whether Iran could be stopped fromachieving nuclear weapons capability.
"The time is not unlimited but it is defined by more thanmonths," added Olmert, whose country is widely believed to havethe only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East.
(Additional reporting by Mark John in Brussels, Tova Cohenin Tokyo and Mark Heinrich in Vienna; Editing by RichardBalmforth)
