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TEHRAN, Sept. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran claimed victory
Thursday in a diplomatic war with the European Union (EU) and the United States
at the UN nuclear watchdog over its controversial nuclear program.
The EU trio of Britain, France
and Germany, which are involved in nuclear talks with Iran, dropped a
demand on Wednesday night from their draft resolution that would force the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors to immediately
report Iran's case to the UN Security Council for "failures and breaches of its
obligations to comply" with the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The original draft was circulated to 35 members of
the IAEA Board of Governors on Tuesday due to Iran's refusal to resume
suspension of its uranium conversion activities by the Monday deadline when the
IAEA board started a meeting in Vienna.
But the EU's US-supported effort to refer Iran's
nuclear case to the Security Council for possible sanctions met opposition from
Russia, China, India and other developing countries on the IAEA board, arguing
that Iran's case should be solved within the framework of the IAEA.
Javad Vaeidi, senior Iranian delegate to the IAEA,
owed the EU's backdown to broad opposition in the IAEA Board of Governors,
particularly that of the two permanent, veto-wielding members of the Security
Council, Russia and China, and Iran's threat to withdraw from the NPT if it is
referred to the Security Council.
"The Europeans were not confident about the outcome
of this issue (referral)," Vaeidi said.
Vaeidi also voiced Iran's readiness to frustrate the
EU's revised draft that obliges the IAEA board to refer Iran's case promptly and
automatically to the Security Council without discussion if Tehran fails to meet
a new deadline to suspend uranium conversion activities.
"Iran will never accept a deadline or trigger
mechanism. In that case, Tehran will show its reaction...Iran will also
endeavorto prevent materialization of such attempts," Vaeidi said.
Iran's confidence was bolstered by Russia's rejection
of the EU's new draft resolution, with a top Russian diplomat to the UN nuclear
watchdog saying Russia refused to allow Iran's case to be referred to the
Security Council at all.
Convinced of getting the upper hand, Iran's permanent
representative to the IAEA Mohammad-Mehdi Akhoundzadeh invited theagency's chief
Mohamed ElBaradei to visit Tehran to discuss outstanding nuclear issues.
"The visit would be an opportunity to discuss some
remaining topics and scope of Iran's cooperation with the UN Agency on national
nuclear program," Akhoundzadeh was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news
agency.
The official added that members of the IAEA Board of
Governors were considering the nuclear initiative presented by Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the 60th session of the UN General Assembly last week,
including involving foreign companies in its uranium enrichment program.
Under the Paris deal, Iran suspended all
enrichment-related activities in November 2004 while talks with the EU trio
lasts.
But the conservative president Ahmadinejad, who took
power in early August, adopted a tough stance on nuclear issue by rejectingthe
EU proposal to give up nuclear fuel activities in return for economic and
technical incentives and restarting uranium conversion work, a precursor to
enrichment.
Iran, which insists that it will never give up legal
rights to produce nuclear fuel for fully peaceful purposes, was under mounting
pressure to resume suspension of nuclear fuel work and return to negotiation
with the EU trio.
The United States and the EU suspect Iran of
developing nuclearweapons under cover of a civilian nuclear program, a charge
rejected by Tehran. Enditem | 
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