
TEHRAN REPEATED MENACES AHEAD OF IAEA CRUCIAL MEETING
TEHRAN-VIENNA, 19 Nov. (IPS) Iran will refuse any further demands from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to halt its uranium enrichment activities, Hojjatoleslam Hasan Rohani, Iran’s influential Secretary of national security warned on Wednesday.
"We have said clearly that any phrase in a resolution
aimed at transforming the voluntary pledge by Iran to suspend uranium enrichment
into a legal obligation will be unacceptable to us", Mr Rohani said upon
his return to Tehran at the end of a two days trip to Brussels, where he met
with EU’s top officials, including Xavier Solana and Chris Patten,
respectively the organisation’s Foreign and Security Affairs Minister and
Foreign Relations Commissar as well as Franco Frattini, the Italian
Foreign Affairs Minister, who is the roving chairman of the EU.![]()
Rohani expressed satisfaction at his talks with EU officials and said thanks to a "wise, open, bold and well-calculated policy, we have been able to defeat enemies plots, leaving them no chance to carry out their devilish plans against us on 20 November", when IAEA Board of Governors is to meet on Iran's nuclear program, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported.
"The Iranian nuclear dossier will not be sent to other international bodies", the independent Iranian Student News Agency ISNA quoted him as saying. "I am not pessimistic, but the resolution will be far from what we see as ideal".
Though he expressed hopes to see that Iran’s face off with the IAEA would end friendly, but also said that things might not go to Tehran’s liking, a reminder that despite its isolation, the United States might be able to persuade other members of the Board for the transfer of the case to the United Nations Security Council, which, in turn, might impose economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
In Brussels, Mr. Rohani was followed by the foreign affairs of Israel and the United States, the two nations that insists that Iran’s present civilian nuclear projects are a "front" for building nuclear bomb.
The controversy over Iran’s nuclear programs has become a new bone of contention between the 15-25 members European Union and the United States.
Collin Powell, the US State Secretary, openly criticised Mr. Solana for having said that Iran was honest in its engagements to the EU, but said he wishes that the Iranians would abide by their undertaking.
International inspectors who ended recently their last inspection of Iranian atomic projects said they had found no evidence that, "at the present", Iran was diverting the projects for building electricity plan for military use.
The report infuriated the American delegation at the Vienna-based IAEA.
On 21 October, Mr. Rohani reached an agreement with the foreign affairs ministers of France, Germany and Britain to suspend enriching uranium and sign the Additional Protocol to the NPT, thus opening all its nuclear-related projects, programs and sites to international inspections, but made clear that the voluntary suspension was to show its goodwill to the international community and it reserved the right to resume the activity at any time.
Tehran has also handed what it said all the documentation on its past and present nuclear activities to IAEA.
But halting uranium enrichment is seen as crucial to preventing Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons. The United States and European Union are pressing for Iran to totally stop enrichment in return for guarantees of overseas nuclear fuel supply for Iran's nuclear plant.
Rohani maintained that Iran's domestic production of nuclear fuel is totally legitimate, saying Iran was under no obligation to concede to demands that go beyond the NPT or additional protocol, because under the NPT, legitimate work on the nuclear fuel cycle is permitted.
"We have said that after all this, our relationship with the agency should be normalised and we will not accept anything beyond the additional protocol and the safeguard clauses".
Paris, London and Berlin have drafted a new resolution to be presented to the Board of Directors on Thursday, but according to the British news agency Reuters,
Washington says the draft lacks teeth and also Dr Mohammad el-Brade’i, the IAEA Chief has expressed his concern that the draft, as it stands, does not sufficiently support the agency. ENDS IRAN IAEA 191103