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VIENNA, Feb. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- France, Germany and
Britain, which represent the European Union (EU), tabled here on Wednesday
afternoon a draft resolution on the Iran nuclear issue to the IAEA Board of
Governors, urging to report the issue to the UN Security Council.
The draft resolution asks Iran to
take various confidence building steps on its peaceful nature of nuclear
program, a Vienna-based diplomat told Xinhua.
The steps include: to "re-establish full and
suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities," including
research and development; to "reconsider the construction of a research reactor
moderated by heavy water."
The draft resolution requests the Director General of
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to "report to" the UN Security
Council these steps required of Iran, said the diplomat, who declined to notify
his name.
However, the EU-3, which have conducted two years of
talks with Iran and were furious over Iran's resumption of nuclear research
since Jan. 10, still urged continuation of the "diplomatic solution" to the Iran
nuclear issue.
The three nations also requested Iran to extend "full
and prompt cooperation" with the IAEA, in particular to help the UN nuclear
watchdog to clarify Iran's possible activities, which could have a military
nuclear dimension.
The IAEA's decision-making body -- the 35-member
Board of Governors will hold an extraordinary meeting on Thursday to discuss the
draft resolution.
On Wednesday, various sides conducted a series of
diplomatic consultations in Vienna, the diplomat said.
Iran is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM),
which have a dozen of members in the IAEA Board of Governors. On Wednesday, NAM
was holding meetings to explore possible countermeasures.
According to the IAEA rules, merely a simple majority
is needed when adopting a resolution at the Board of Governors.
However, diplomats said the EU-3 want a unanimous
adoption or at least absolute majority in a bid to push more pressure on Iran.
However, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed
out on Wednesday and vowed to resist the pressure of "bully countries" after the
EU-s circulated the draft resolution, saying that Tehran would continue its
nuclear program.
"Nuclear energy is our right, and we will resist
until this right is fully realized," Ahmadinejad told the crowd in the southern
Iran city of Bushehr, the site of Iran's only nuclear power plant.
"Our nation can't give in to the coercion of some
bully countries who imagine they are the whole world and see themselves equal to
the entire globe," he added.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said at
a news conference that the Islamic republic would halt intrusive UN inspections
of its nuclear facilities and resume large-scale enrichment of uranium if it is
taken before the UN Security Council, which could impose sanctions.
Larijani also said Iran remains committed to the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
However, he said Iran's main enrichment plant at
Natanz "is ready for work."
"If Iran is reported to the Security Council, we will
do it quickly," he added. Enditem |