Special report: Iran Nuclear
Crisis
VIENNA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran claimed on Thursday
to have fully cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and
said it wanted to return to the IAEA's framework, one day after the U.S.
threatened to urge the UN Security Council to use sanctions to back diplomacy.
Speaking at the meeting of the IAEA Board of
Governors, Iranian Ambassador to the Agency Ali Asghar Soltanie said that Iran's
nuclear program and activities were "exclusively for peaceful purposes."
The Iranian diplomat also hit out at the U.S. for
describing sanctions as acts of diplomacy.
"The world has to know that the U.S.
declared 'sanctions' as 'diplomacy' in the same way (the) unilateral military invasion
in Iraq (was described) as 'multilateral diplomacy'," he said. "The
decisions on referring Iran's nuclear dossier to the UNSC were based on
ridiculous motivations."
The U.S. has "poisoned the environment" on the eve of
the negotiations between EU High Representative Javier Solana and Iran's
Secretary of National Security Council Dr Larijani, said the Iranian ambassador.
Soltanie declared that the EU-Iranian talks were
"welcomed by almost all delegates."
He said he was fully prepared to have comprehensive
review of technical, legal, security and political aspects in an open debate
with the U.S. ambassador.
The IAEA has been much weakened since its
establishment as an independent technical international organization, he said,
implying influence from the U.S.
Soltanie told the meeting that the international
community was carefully monitoring the developments in this historical juncture,
concerning not the nuclear issue of Iran, but a member state's right to acquire
nuclear technology and to apply it for peaceful purposes.
U.S. envoy Gregory Schulte issued a statement on
Wednesday, saying it was time to urge the United Nations Security Council to
make sanctions to back up its diplomatic efforts.
The U.S. envoy also said that the sanctions, even if
imposed, would not mean an end to further negotiations. Enditem


