Posted on 01/18/2006 8:29:36 AM PST by areafiftyone
Iran today said it was unlikely that Europe and the US will succeed in referring it to the UN Security Council over its nuclear programme, and the hard-liner president said the West should act with more “logic” in the stand-off with his country. Mottaki said he hoped European countries would avoid taking steps that could only worsen the current situation – an apparent reference to the talk of sanctions in the US and Europe.
Tehran’s defiant tone came as France rejected Iran’s request for a resumption of negotiations on the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme. Paris said Iran must first suspend its atomic activities.
Iran asked for a ministerial-level meeting with France, Germany, Britain and the European Union, but its decision to resume some uranium enrichment-related activities “means that it is not possible for us to meet under satisfactory conditions to pursue these discussions,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau said in Paris.
“Iran must return to a complete suspension of these activities,” he said.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, also rejected any return to talks, which Europe called off after Iran ended its freeze on enrichment research earlier this month.
“There’s not much to talk about,” Rice said during a photo session at the State Department with Solana.
Solana agreed that “there is not much point” in resuming talks if there is “nothing new on the table.”
The US, France, Britain and Germany want the Board of Governors of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to convene an emergency meeting on February 2 to refer Iran to the Security Council.
The countries have drawn up a draft IAEA resolution that would ask the Security Council to press Tehran “to extend full and prompt co-operation to the agency” in its investigation of suspect nuclear activities – though it stops short of asking the council to impose sanctions.
However, Russia and China – as well as Egypt, which is also a member of the 35-nation Board of Governors – are reluctant to back putting Iran before the council.
“In view of the overall situation, we regard the possibility of the hauling of Iran’s nuclear case to the Security Council to be weak,” Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told Iran radio.
“During the past ten days we have tried to relay our message to all relevant parties, including the Europeans, about Iran’s readiness to negotiate on the production of nuclear fuel".
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shrugged off the draft resolution, calling it politically motivated and said he was unconcerned by the attempts to refer Iran to the council.
“There is no problem. This is their endeavour. We can’t stop others from trying,” he told reporters.
But he said the West should back down in the confrontation with Iran, accusing them of trying to deprive Iran from peaceful nuclear technology.
“We are asking they step down from their ivory towers and act with a little logic,” he said. “Who are you to deprive us from fulfilling our goals? You think you are the lord of the world and everybody should follow you. But that idea is a wrong idea.”
The US accuses Iran of trying to secretly build nuclear weapons – a charge Iran denies. Britain, France and Germany, with US backing, have been trying to persuade Iran to import nuclear fuel instead of having its own uranium enrichment programme, but Iran has rejected this.
The Bush administration sent US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns to London to co-ordinate a strategy with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia on dealing with Iran. Burns conceded differences remained after a meeting yesterday.
“We reached a consensus on some points … others need to be worked on,” he said.
“There is a consensus that Iran should turn back, return to negotiations and suspend its nuclear programme,” Burns told reporters in Mumbai, India, during a South Asia tour.
“But that’s not the path Iran is on now.”
A delegation of Israeli security experts was in Moscow today to meet with Russia’s Security Council and Foreign Ministry in hopes of winning Russian backing for Security Council referral.
Russia’s Interfax news agency said the head of country’s nuclear energy agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, met with the delegation led by Israeli National Security Chief Giora Eiland.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy was scheduled to meet with Russian officials tomorrow.
"Iran: Referral to UN Security Council Unlikely"
Napoleon I: War With British Empire Unlikely
Iran's gonna get blowed up real good.
It would appear that one of you has to be wrong.
Does anyone have a link outlining Iran's violations? I'm having a really hard time finding a good source.
I don't think Iran will be bombed at all. I think Iran will be the next North Korea.
There will be a stand-off with Iran. There will be no military action against Iran unless it takes aggressive action. However, given the nature of the Iranian regime, I expect them to acquire nuclear weapons in 2007 and use them soon after.
The IAEA will give its report in February and we'll find out.
Thanks. That's what I've been trying to figure out. Are we talking about referring them to the UNSC based on violations we know about, and if so what are they? Or are we looking for the IAEA to declare some violations so Iran can then be referred to the UNSC?
I found a report from September that outlines a list of things they "failed to report" but wasn't sure if they qualified as "violations" or just a slap on the wrist.
SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION: Iran and the NPT
I think it's a good link, but of course, I'm biased...
The same year that squadrons of Russia's and China's 5th generation fighter are expected to come on line.
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