Special report: Iran Nuclear
Crisis
Iran replies to six-nation
proposal
Iran launches military
exercise
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
(L) shakes hands with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan during their meeting
in Tehran Sept. 3, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)
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U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (L)
speaks with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during an official
meeting in Tehran Sept. 3, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)
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TEHRAN, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Sunday wrapped up his two-day visit to Iran
without achieving any breakthrough on its nuclear issue as Tehran insisted that
suspension of uranium enrichment would not happen before
talks.
In a meeting with the UN chief Sunday morning, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reaffirmed to Annan Iran's
preparedness
and commitment to hold negotiations.
But Ahmadinejad reiterated that Iran would not accept
suspension of uranium enrichment before negotiations, Annan told a joint press
conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki.
The UN chief said he had a better understanding of
Iran's stance on the nuclear issue and would discuss it with key members of the
Security Council.
Annan said he hoped all parties concerned would find
a way to move forward at a planned meeting between EU foreign policy chief
Javier Solana and Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani this
week.
For his part, Mottaki said Iran's stance on its
nuclear program was transparent enough and Annan had gotten familiar with it.
The Iranian foreign minister said now it was the turn
of world powers to consider Iran's response to their package aimed at resolving
the nuclear issue.
"If there is a need for any time for their
consideration, we can provide them with it," Mottaki said.
Mottaki also said that UN Security Council Resolution
1696 was a "mistake" made under the pressure of the United States and its
allies, and hence "a black mark registered in their records."Iranian Foreign
Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said earlier in the day that Iran hoped to
reach a consensus over its nuclear issue after the meeting between Larijani and
Solana.
"The situation would be more clear after the meeting
and we hope to reach a consensus," Asefi told a press briefing.
Solana is expected to hold talks with Larijani this
week to clarify ambiguities in Iran's response to an incentive package offered
by the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.
Asefi said the exact date and place of the meeting
were yet to be decided but it will be "within the next few days."
The package includes both incentives aimed at
persuading Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and possible sanctions if Iran
does not comply.
Larijani delivered Tehran's written response to the
package on Aug. 22 and urged the six nations to get back to negotiations, saying
Iran was ready to start "serious talks" over its nuclear
program.
The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1696 in
late July, urging Tehran to suspend by Aug. 31 all enrichment-related and
reprocessing activities, including research and development, or face prospect of
sanctions.
On Aug. 31, International Atomic Energy Agency chief
Mohammed ElBaradei presented a report to the Security Council, saying "Iran has
continued enriching uranium despite a UN nuclear deadline for it to suspend or
face possible sanctions."
As the United States was seeking to press for
sanctions on Iran after it refused to stop enriching uranium, the European
Union, however, agreed on Saturday to give Iran extra time, probably two weeks,
to clarify ambiguities in its response to the six-nation
package.
Meanwhile, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's
representative to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), warned Saturday
that Iran would revise its policy of cooperating with the IAEA if sanctions are
imposed over its nuclear program.
"If other erroneous measures are committed and the UN
Security Council decides on sanctions or punitive measures, there is no doubt
that the Islamic Republic of Iran will revise its policy of cooperation and its
engagements laid out in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)," he
noted.
The warning was echoed by Iranian lawmakers as the
parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission discussed on Sunday
a draft bill on possible suspension of visits by IAEA inspectors to Iran's
nuclear facilities.
The Iranian members of parliament have repeatedly
warned that Iran would withdraw from the IAEA if its "inalienable rights" are
deprived of. Enditem
