VIENNA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Iran still defied
Resolution 1747 of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and expanded its
uranium enrichment program, said the report of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) to the UNSC on Wednesday.
The report was referred to the 35 member states of
IAEA's Board of Governors, diplomats in IAEA told Xinhua.
Iran on the same day dismissed the report as "devoid
of any new points" and insisted there is no obstacle for the agency's
inspections of its nuclear sites.
Iran's permanent representative to the IAEA, Ali
Soltanieh, said in Vienna, "the report of UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed
ElBaradei on Iran's nuclear program is devoid of any new points."
"Iran has not breached any of its international
commitments, and that our activities have no deviation from peaceful
objectives," he said.
The IAEA report said that Iran's establishment in
Natanz had fixed 1,300 centrifuges, three times more than the amount the IAEA
learned about in February, and the other hundreds of centrifuges were still in
test.
Iran had informed the IAEA that it could churn out
small amount of uranium enriched to 4.8 percent at present.
Soltanieh said, "although Iran has pursued its
enrichment activities, it has never created any obstacles in the way of the
agency's inspections, or made any attempt aimed at delaying them, pursuing full
cooperation with IAEA inspectors."
The pendent problems about Iranian nuclear issues
were still in the air, and the IAEA could neither grip and evaluate the fact of
Iran's nuclear program, nor affirm Iran's peaceful intention, said the report.
The diplomats in Vienna said that the United States
and Britain would impel the UNSC to take much severer sanctions against Iran, if
Iran defied the resolution of the Security Council.
They believed that this report would reinflame a
debate on the new resolution against Iran in the UN in coming weeks.
According to media reports, ElBaradei said in a
recent interview that in order to make progress, Iran might be allowed to
develop limited research on uranium enrichment activities, with the precondition
that Iran did not build the industrial productive system for uranium enrichment
and would be subject to the strict inspection of the IAEA.
However, the United States and some other Western
countries expressed immediately their strong opposition against ElBaradei's
suggestion.
The UNSC ratified Resolution 1747 on Iran's nuclear
issues on March 24, which required Iran to implement Resolution 1737 without
hesitation, and suspend all uranium enrichment activities with the verification
of the IAEA.
Resolution 1747 also required the IAEA to refer a
report to the UNSC in 60 days on whether Iran complies with the resolution or
not.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on
Wednesday was quoted by the state television as saying that Iran continues to
cooperate with the IAEA and abide by its commitment to carry out the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty.
TEHRAN, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Wednesday dismissed
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei's latest report on
Tehran's nuclear program as "devoid of any new points" and insisted there is no
obstacle for the agency's inspections of its nuclear sites.
"The latest report of UN nuclear watchdog chief
Mohamed ElBaradei on Iran's nuclear program is devoid of any new points," Ali
Soltanieh, Iran's permanent representative to the IAEA, told the official IRNA
news agency in Vienna. Full story
TEHRAN, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Iran said Wednesday that there
is no obstacle for legal inspections of its nuclear sites by the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the official IRNA news agency reported.
IAEA's inspections of the nuclear facilities are
based on Iran's legal commitments, deputy chief of the country's Atomic Energy
Organization Mohammad Saeedi told IRNA. Full story
WASHINGTON, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The United States said on
Wednesday that Iran has not changed its policy on uranium enrichment and vowed
not to let Iran develop nuclear weapons.
"Now, has Iran changed its behavior? No, it hasn't,"
State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said at a briefing. Full story
WASHINGTON, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The United States and some
European allies plan to complain to Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over his proposal for Iran to retain
some uranium enrichment activities, U.S. media reported Tuesday.
Officials from the United States, Britain, Germany
and France will visit ElBaradei this week to tell him their concerns over Iran's
nuclear program, the report said, citing U.S. officials. Full story
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