Iran will eventually develop sufficient weapons-grade material for a nuclear bomb, an internal European Union report concludes. The Financial Times quotes the report as saying that "attempts to engage the Iranian administration in a negotiating process have not so far succeeded."
The report, termed a "reflection paper," is an internal document, compiled by the staff of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Dated February 7, it was circulated to the EU's 27 member states ahead of a foreign ministers' meeting on Monday of this week.
"At some stage we must expect that Iran will acquire the capacity to enrich uranium on the scale required for a weapons program," the document says. "The Iranians have pursued their program at their own pace, the limiting factor being technical difficulties rather than resolutions by the UN or the International Atomic Energy Agency."
"The problems with Iran will not be resolved through economic sanctions alone," the report states.
EU leaders said Iran was showing "new ambition" to solve the confrontation with the West through negotiations, but they also agreed to go ahead with UN sanctions to keep up pressure on Tehran.
Also on Monday, US President George W. Bush dismissed talk of a US military strike on Iran as "political chatter." He said there is still a chance to resolve the standoff over Tehran's nuclear ambitions through diplomacy. In an interview with the Congressional cable television channel C-SPAN, Bush called Tehran a "belligerent" regime with nuclear ambitions that will lead Iranians into isolation.
"The Iranian people are good, honest, decent people and they've got a government that is belligerent, loud, noisy, threatening - a government which is in defiance of the rest of the world and says `We want a nuclear weapon,"' said President Bush. "So our objective is to keep the pressure so rational folks will show up and say it's not worth the isolation."
Israel may have to take action on its own against the Iranian nuclear facilities, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman.
"The differences of opinion between Russia and western Europe, between Europe and the USA, between the USA and the UN, have destabilized the world political system," Lieberman said in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel. "We must reckon with the international community doing nothing and with Israel having to act alone at some point."
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Sunday that Iran's government was leading "clear manifestations of anti-Semitism." It is "unacceptable," she said, "that a UN member state denies the facts of the Holocaust, calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, pursues weapons of mass destruction - and continues to be accepted as a legitimate member of the family of nations."
The report, termed a "reflection paper," is an internal document, compiled by the staff of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Dated February 7, it was circulated to the EU's 27 member states ahead of a foreign ministers' meeting on Monday of this week.
"At some stage we must expect that Iran will acquire the capacity to enrich uranium on the scale required for a weapons program," the document says. "The Iranians have pursued their program at their own pace, the limiting factor being technical difficulties rather than resolutions by the UN or the International Atomic Energy Agency."
"The problems with Iran will not be resolved through economic sanctions alone," the report states.
EU leaders said Iran was showing "new ambition" to solve the confrontation with the West through negotiations, but they also agreed to go ahead with UN sanctions to keep up pressure on Tehran.
Also on Monday, US President George W. Bush dismissed talk of a US military strike on Iran as "political chatter." He said there is still a chance to resolve the standoff over Tehran's nuclear ambitions through diplomacy. In an interview with the Congressional cable television channel C-SPAN, Bush called Tehran a "belligerent" regime with nuclear ambitions that will lead Iranians into isolation.
"The Iranian people are good, honest, decent people and they've got a government that is belligerent, loud, noisy, threatening - a government which is in defiance of the rest of the world and says `We want a nuclear weapon,"' said President Bush. "So our objective is to keep the pressure so rational folks will show up and say it's not worth the isolation."
Israel may have to take action on its own against the Iranian nuclear facilities, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman.
"The differences of opinion between Russia and western Europe, between Europe and the USA, between the USA and the UN, have destabilized the world political system," Lieberman said in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel. "We must reckon with the international community doing nothing and with Israel having to act alone at some point."
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Sunday that Iran's government was leading "clear manifestations of anti-Semitism." It is "unacceptable," she said, "that a UN member state denies the facts of the Holocaust, calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, pursues weapons of mass destruction - and continues to be accepted as a legitimate member of the family of nations."