Israeli Nuclear Arms May Face U.N. Focus

UNITED NATIONS — As the Security Council struggled to maintain unity on dealing with Iran yesterday, some of the 15 members tried to change the subject by proposing to inject Israel into the Iran issue.

Iran, meanwhile, ratcheted up its rhetoric yesterday, indicating that it may withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which obligates it to remain free of nuclear weapons.

"Until today, what we have done has been in accordance with international regulations," said Tehran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. "But if they take illegal actions, we too can take illegal actions and will do so."

While Iran considers the council's demand that it suspend all its uranium enrichment activities "illegal," and while its top mullahs scoff at council resolutions, President Ahmadinejad has asked to address the council once it is ready for a vote on a new resolution. In his council address, Mr. Ahmadinejad is expected to raise Israel's reported nuclear arsenal.

Currently, the Security Council is negotiating a response to Iran's defiance of a previous demand to suspend its uranium enrichment activities. But negotiations slowed down yesterday, and Qatari and South African diplomats said they did not expect a vote before next week.

One stumbling block was a newly proposed reference to a Middle East free of weapons of mass destructions.

A veiled reference to Israel, the proposal came from Indonesia and was supported by Qatar and other members of the council. The only public opposition came from America.

European diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity told The New York Sun that they could accept such an amendment.

One possibility, they said, was to rely on a decade-old formula used in resolutions aimed at disarming Iraq, in which the council generally declared its "objective of the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the region of the Middle East."

The top lieutenants of the Iraqi dictator at the time, Saddam Hussein, used that provision to highlight Israel's arsenal, and Iranians are expected to do the same if such a provision is inserted to the current resolution.

"We have not agreed to that," an American ambassador to the United Nations, Alejandro Wolff, told reporters. He called the proposed amendment "logically inconsistent" with the council's direction on Iran.

Unlike Iran, Israel has never signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. "Iran is neighbored by nuclear-weapon states that are not considered in the Middle East, and that are not party to the NPT," he said, alluding to India and Pakistan, which also have not signed the treaty.

In the case of Iran, "We are dealing with one country that's in violations of its NPT and International Atomic Energy Agency commitments, and undertakings of its Security Council obligations," Mr. Wolff said. "And that's what this resolution is all about."

Several diplomats speculated yesterday that Pretoria, in an attempt to preserve its ties with Tehran, may be seeking to get other council members to abstain once the council votes on the proposed resolution.

But Mr. Wolff said he is still hoping to sway South Africa and the others. "If I didn't think we can still bring them on board, I wouldn't be looking at it seriously," he said.