|
US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice (R) meets with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana at the State
Department in Washington,DC, Jan. 18, 2006. Key European countries and US are in favor of referring
Tehran to the UN Security Council over its resumption of nuke
activities, while Russia and China urge reopening of
talks to end the deadlock. (Xinhua/AFP
photo) |
|
|
| New Ambassador to
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh from
Iran speaks during a press conference, on Friday, Jan. 13, 2006, at
Vienna's International Center.
(Xinhua/File) | LONDON, Jan. 19
(Xinhuanet) -- Iran has threatened to halt its cooperation with the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) once its nuclear activities are
referred to the UN Security Council.
"All the activities which we are voluntarily doing in
accordance with additional protocols, including the complementary accesses (and)
short notice access that we have granted... even to the military sites, will not
be continued any more," said Dr Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the
IAEA, in an interview on BBC late Wednesday.
Soltanieh made the remark when he was asked whether
Iran would halt cooperation if IAEA's 35-member Board of Governors votes for a
referral in a scheduled meeting on Feb. 2.
But Soltanieh said that Iran's resumption of nuclear
research does not mean it expects a stand-off. He insisted that the research is
entirely for peaceful means.
He added as the IAEA is monitoring its nuclear
facilities, it is out of the question for Iran to secretly develop nuclear
weapons.
Soltanieh criticized those nations seeking to haul
his country before the Security Council for possible sanctions, saying the gate
to negotiation is still wide open, although the United Statesand the European
Union have rejected the idea of further talks.
Foreign Ministers of the European trio of France,
Germany and Britain decided to refer Iran's nuclear activities to the UN
Security Council when they met in Berlin on Jan. 12.
Iran resumed its research on nuclear fuel earlier
this month. Enditem
|
Breaking
News 
