WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Accusing Tehran of
violating international regulation, the Obama administration on Friday called on
the international community to "work together" on and address Iran's nuclear
issue as soon as possible.
"This is an urgent problem that has to be addressed
and we can't delay addressing," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, after a
UN report claimed Tehran has been still carrying out its uranium enrichment
activity.
In a report submitted Thursday to the UN Security
Council, Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) said Iran still refused to fulfill UN's requirement of stopping
its uranium enrichment activity.
"The report represents another lost opportunity for
Iran as it continues to renege on its international obligations. Absent
compliance, the international community cannot have confidence that this program
is exclusively of a peaceful nature," Gibbs said.
"It does underscore the urgency with which the
international community must work together to address these enrichment
activities," said the spokesman.
Responding to the IAEA report, Iran has vowed to
continue its nuclear work.
"We fully cooperate with the agency in accordance
with comprehensive safeguard, ... We will not go beyond our legal obligations,"
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's permanent representative to the IAEA, told Iran's
Press TV on Friday.
He urged the United States and its Western allies to
change their "boring and frustrating trend" on Tehran's nuclear work, saying
they have found "no evidence" of Iran's pursuit of forbidden weapons.
Iran's uranium enrichment program is questioned by
many parties. Western countries like the United States claim that Iran intends
to secretly develop nuclear weapons, while the UN Security Council also requires
Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activity.
However, Iran insists that its nuclear plan is only
for peaceful purposes, and continues its uranium enrichment activity despite the
pressure from the western countries and relevant resolutions and sanctions of
the United Nations.
TEHRAN, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran has vowed it would not
suspend its nuclear work after the latest report from the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) said Tehran has slowed its uranium enrichment program,
Iran's English-language satellite news channel Press TV reported on Friday.
"We fully cooperate with the Agency in accordance with
comprehensive safeguard, which is the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) safeguard,"
Iran's permanent representative to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Press
TV. Full story
VIENNA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Iran has slowed its uranium
enrichment program, said Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) when submitting the report on Iranian
nuclear issue to the UN Security Council on Thursday.
According to media here, this report said that only 164
gas centrifuges which are able to produce low-enriched uranium have been newly
installed at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment center since last December, which
is slower than the past. Full story
TEHRAN, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad on Wednesday repeated his call for "real changes" in the U.S.
policies, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"Bullying powers should make good on their mistakes
by making fundamental and real changes to serve the interests of nations instead
of killing them," Ahmadinejad told a rally in the central city of Yazd. Full story
TEHRAN, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Deputy Defense Minister
Ahmad Vahidi Wednesday dismissed Western concerns over its space program, the
satellite Press TV website reported.
Vahidi dismissed the claims that Iran's space program is a
cover for developing missiles that could reach Europe and the United States. Full story
