IRAN TO STAND BY ITS COMMITMENTS ON NUCLEAR ISSUES

VIENNA-TEHRAN 8 Nov. (IPS) Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary Hojjatoleslam Hasan Rohani met Dr. Mohammad el-Bradeh’i, the Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Saturday and assured him that the Islamic Republic would stand by its commitments on accepting tougher inspections of its controversial nuclear projects and suspension of secret uranium enrichment programs.

Even though Rohani did not bring a promised letter to the meeting, but el-Barade’i called their talks "very fruitful", adding that the Iranian official promised a second letter formally announcing the "suspension of all enrichment-related activities" next week, another promise Tehran has yet to fulfill.

However, the British news agency Reuters quoted several diplomats saying they were losing patience with Iran, which has yet to stop its enrichment activities, as promised to the foreign affairs minister of Britain, France and Germany on 21 of October.

"Next week, we will get the letter by Iran for conclusion of the Additional Protocol, which is a positive step", the IAEA Chief told reporters in Vienna after a 90 minute meeting with Mr. Rohani, who also described the results of his talks with the Egyptian el-Barade’i on Iran-IAEA nuclear cooperation as "more positive and more fruitful" than earlier talks with him in Tehran.

The Saturday meeting comes days before el-Barade’i delivers his latest report on inspections in Iran to diplomats in Vienna on 20 November, a report the IAEA has said would detail more failures by Iran to report required information to the United Nations, referring to uranium enriching plants Iran build and parts it purchased abroad secretly.

The IAEA Board of Governors meets on 20 November to consider Iran's compliance with nuclear demands. .

Rohani confirmed that IAEA would receive a letter from Iran next week in which all the positions adopted by it would be mentioned, but at the same time her warned that uranium enrichment is a legitimate right of the Islamic Republic within the framework of the NPT.

"Iran has responded to all the questions by IAEA and assured that it would remain committed to the agreement inked during a visit of the three EU foreign ministers to Tehran on signing the Additional Protocols and suspension of uranium enrichment", the official Iranian news agency IRNA said.
Rohani stressed that like all those countries that inked the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran should also receive peaceful nuclear technology.
He told reporters after his meeting with el-Barade’i that in previous sessions in Tehran, the Iranian officials and IAEA authorities had discussed the transparency (of Iranian nuclear projects) but in today’s sessions the sides reviewed what they had done to date, according to the official news agency IRNA.

Iran had ideally cooperated with the IAEA and answered all questions raised on its nuclear programs, the Agency quoted the Egyptian el-Bradehi as having said.

He said much work should be done to deal with and study all the documents presented by Iran to the IAEA.
On September 12, a resolution formulated by Canada, Australia and Japan setting a deadline for Iran to disclose all information on its nuclear programs, mostly those related to its secret uranium enriching plans by the end of October was approved without voting by IAEA Governing Board in Vienna.
Later on, Jack Straw of Britain, Dominique de Villepin of France and Joscka Fischer of Germany signed an agreement in Tehran on 21 of October with Mr. Rohani, stating that Iran would sign the Additional Protocols to the NPT and suspend its uranium enriching activities.

Washington, which has labelled the Islamic Republic as a "rogue State", cautiously welcomed the Agreement, but stated that it was now to Tehran to prove that it stands by its commitments.

Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Akbar Salehi, said Mr Rohani would try to clarify the "technicalities" of suspending Iran's uranium enrichment programme - "how to carry out the process and how to confirm that the whole process has been carried out".

By bowing to IAEA’s demands, Iran escaped possible sanctions from the United Nations Security Council that would have discussed iran’s nuclear activities in case Iran would not go along with the UN nuclear watchdog.

Iran earlier denied speculations that Rohani will be carrying a letter from Iranian leaders for the IAEA over Iran’s signing the Additional Protocol.

Iran faces intense international pressure to prove it is not developing nuclear weapons, as the Americans, Israelis and some Europeans alleges.

But Iran says all its nuclear programs are for peaceful purposes, mainly producing electricity, a claim many experts rejects, reminding that the country has the world’s largest natural gas reserves after Russia and therefore does need expensive and complicated nuclear energy for that matter.

Last week, Tehran submitted a "comprehensive" declaration on its nuclear programme to the IAEA, el-Bradeh’i said, adding that IAEA inspections could take some time longer to check out the information that Iran has provided.

IAEA inspectors are verifying Iranian claims on the ground Iran wanted to be sure the IAEA would be in charge of verifying Iran's suspension of this program, Mr Salehi told French news agency AFP.

Tehran has already agreed to sign the additional protocol allowing UN inspectors to carry out spot checks of Iranian facilities.

Iran hopes that these should be enough to ensure that the IAEA board meeting resists American pressures to have Iran referred to the UN Security Council for breaching its nuclear obligations, says the BBC's Tehran correspondent Jim Muir.

IAEA inspectors are understood to be focusing on processes of uranium conversion, laser enrichment and centrifuges where traces of highly enriched weapons-grade uranium were found earlier.

A Western diplomat told Reuters that Rohani was leaving for Moscow Saturday night where he is expected to discuss on Sunday with Russian officials details of suspending uranium enrichment.

Russia is helping Iran to build a 1.000 megawatts, 800 million US Dollars nuclear-powered electrical plant in Booshehr, on the Persian Gulf and like Iran, insist that the project is essentially non military.

Rohani’s visit is his first one to Vienna. ENDS IRAN IAEA 81103