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TEHRAN, Sept. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran, armed with both sticks and
carrots, urged the UN nuclear watchdog on Sunday not to refer its case to the UN
Security Council.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told a weekly news
briefing that the atmosphere of the Iranian nuclear case would "become radical"
if the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "takes the radical and
unilateral action" of referral.
Asefi's warning came just one day before IAEA's board of
governors is to convene a meeting in Vienna, and the European Union (EU) has
pressed Iran to re-suspend its uranium conversion activities before the meeting,
saying a defiance would prompt the agency to refer Iran's case to the UN
Security Council for possible sanctions.
The spokesman said Tehran would make decisions according to the
result of the IAEA meeting, stressing that Iran would never givein under threats
and pressure and calling on the EU and the IAEA to deal with Iran's nuclear case
with a logic attitude.
"We hope that Monday's IAEA meeting will be positive and helpful
to future negotiations. However, if it turns to the otherside, we will make
decisions accordingly," Asefi said, stressing that Iran should not be expected
to make commitments beyond what are ordained in the Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT).
Uranium enrichment, as a key step toward construction of nuclear
fuel cycle, is the legal right enshrined by the NPT forits signatories. Uranium
conversion is the preparatory stage of the enrichment process.
Iran resumed its uranium conversion activities on Aug. 8 and
scuttled the negotiations with the EU, but its enrichment activities have
remained frozen so far.
Asefi ruled out links between his warning and a further
resumption of the uranium enrichment activities at the facilitiesin the central
city of Natanz, which had been advocated and hintedby some top Iranian officials
for weeks.
"The restart of Natanz facilities is not on the agenda for now,"
Asefi said.
Ali Aqamohammadi, spokesman of Iran's Supreme National Security
Council responsible for nuclear negotiations, said on Saturday that Iran would
restart the enrichment facilities in Natanz if the negotiations fall short of
Iran's expectation.
"We agree to hold talks based on a reasonable schedule.
However,if the process of nuclear negotiations is disrupted, obviously Iran will
resume atomic activities at Natanz (nuclear facilities)," Aqamohammadi said.
Aqamohammadi also said that the nuclear proposal Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinajed presented would "eliminate anysuspicions about
Iran's intention to produce nuclear weapons".
Ahmadinajed presented his new initiatives to solve the Iranian
nuclear issue when he addressed the UN General Assembly in the UN headquarters
in New York.
Ahmadinajed announced that as a new confidence-building
measure,Iran was ready to involve foreign companies in its uraniumen richment
program.
Meanwhile, Ahmadinajed vowed not to give up the efforts to build
nuclear fuel cycle, from which the EU, the long-time broker of Iran's nuclear
case, has been endeavoring to dissuade Iran.
On Sunday, the president in person commented on his newproposal
that the initiatives would provide "a good prospect" for the IAEA to keep Iran's
case within the agency, condemning the referral attempt after the new
initiatives as seeking pretexts to complicate the case.
"Iran's initiative had provided a good prospect for the UN
nuclear watchdog and left no pretext for anybody...In case anyone intends to
raise a pretext, they are just after seeking pretexts,"he said upon his arrival
in Tehran from New York.
Ahmadinejad stressed that foreign involvement in Iran's
enrichment work was a special offer.
"That we permit the public and private sectors of other
countries to be partners in Iran's nuclear program and put part of our nuclear
energy shares at the disposal of others is a special point in Iran's
initiative," the president said. Enditem |