TEHRAN, Feb. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran announced on Sunday that it hadended all voluntary cooperation with the International AtomicEnergy Agency (IAEA), including snap checks of its nuclear sites.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says at a news conference on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2006 that the Islamic Republic had ended all voluntary cooperative measures with the UN nuclear watchdog including spot checks and suspension of sensitive nuclear enrichment.

   Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said at a news conference that the Islamic Republic had ended all voluntary cooperative measures with the UN nuclear watchdog including spot checks and suspension of sensitive nuclear enrichment.

   "Iran has ended all voluntary measures it has been undertaking with the IAEA during the past two-and-a-half to three years," Mottaki said.

   "We do not have any commitment to the Additional Protocol of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) any longer," he added.

   The NPT additional protocol, which the Iranian government signed in December 2003 under the persuasion of Europe but failed to be ratified by the Iranian Majlis (parliament), requires its signatories to admit snap inspections of the IAEA on nuclear facilities.

   Mottaki made the announcement one day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued an order to end voluntary cooperative measures as of Sunday in accordance with a law passed by the Majlis last year.

   The move came following an emergency meeting of the IAEA board of governors in Vienna on Saturday which adopted a resolution toreport Iran's nuclear program to the UN Security Council.

   In his order on Saturday, Ahmadinejad denounced the IAEA decision as being made under the pressure of certain countries and lacking legal justification.

   Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi on Sunday morning said that the report of the case to the Security Council would damage the prospect of a diplomatic solution to the dispute more than harm Iran.

   However, Asefi promised that Iran was still willing to solve its nuclear issue through negotiations with the international community and would continue cooperation with the IAEA under the NPT and the Safeguard Agreement.

   He also said that Tehran would continue negotiating with Russia on its suggestion that the two countries establish a joint venture on the Russian soil to enrich uranium for Iran, but called for some revisions to the plan according to the new situation.

   Apart from the signing of the NPT additional protocol, Iran suspended uranium enrichment in December 2003 and further downrightly suspended all related peripheral activities in November 2004, paving the way to negotiations with Europe.

   On the other hand, Tehran insisted that such cooperative moves were taken on the voluntary base and should be exempt from legal binding.

   In August 2005, Tehran resumed uranium conversion work, a precursor to the enrichment, which has paralyzed the bilateral talks with the European Union (EU) so far.

   It further resumed nuclear research work on Jan. 10, a move prompting the EU powers to call for the IAEA emergency meeting to discuss reporting the case to the UN Security Council.

   The EU holds that Iran's full mastery of nuclear fuel cycletechnology would possibly lead to military usage, based on the United States' accusation that Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons.

   But Iran insists that its nuclear program is fully peaceful and aimed at meeting rising domestic demand for electricity.  Enditem