Asefi: Iran is examining how to continue cooperation with IAEA
Tehran, Sept 14, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said here on Sunday that the Islamic Republic is examining how to continue cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for what he said was the poor performance of the agency.
Asefi told reporters in his weekly press briefing that the related organizations are currently studying how to continue cooperation with IAEA, adding that the results of this study will be announced later.
"The Islamic Republic from the beginning had declared that the IAEA must act professionally and had warned the agency not to enter a political game," he said.
"However, the agency has been regretfully misused by certain Western states, particularly the US, and the process of debates and the behind-the-scene lobbies showed that Iran`s warnings were right and that the IAEA has overlooked its professional work and has entered political bickering."
The IAEA Board of Governors last Friday set an October 31 deadline for Iran to prove it is pursuing peaceful nuclear programs. The resolution that was submitted by Canada, Japan and Australia also calls on Tehran to clarify its nuclear program by the end of October and to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
Asefi said the fact that the resolution had been passed by the IAEA Board of Governors without taking votes showed that the atmosphere in the meeting had not been natural.
"The efforts by the US and certain Western states show that they want to deprive Iran of its natural and legitimate right to acquire nuclear technology," he said. "The Islamic Republic cannot overlook this natural and legitimate right, but the measure by the IAEA created very serious doubts about its performance."
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said Japan, Canada and Australia had taken a very improper step to submit the resolution against Iran, stressing that Tehran would give the suitable response by using the due diplomatic capacities.
Answering a question on Russia`s position toward the IAEA anti-Iran resolution, Asefi said the position of all countries toward the issue is not equal, and that Tehran will adopt an appropriate consideration according to the position of each country. "Russia will not side with the Western countries, but its positions were not the same that we expected.... They had their own reasoning for the decision they made," he said.
"Russia will continue its cooperation with Iran in building the Bushehr nuclear power plant, and this shows that Moscow is abiding by its commitments toward Tehran."
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http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=17971&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs Iran Official Says Tehran Will Cooperate with IAEA
Sun September 14, 2003 07:04 AM ET
By Parinoosh Arami
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will continue to cooperate with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, a senior official was quoted as saying Sunday, despite hard-liners' calls for Iran to reject a U.N. deadline to prove it has no atomic arms program.
Using softer language than in recent days, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Salehi said Tehran would not make "nervous and tough reactions" to a tough IAEA resolution last week on Iran's nuclear program.
"We will continue our cooperation with the IAEA as before and our clear criticism does not mean we will sever our cooperation with the agency," the state-run Iran newspaper quoted him as saying.
But he added that Iran should not show total "obedience to the West's demands" since that "could pave the way for unlimited demands."
The IAEA has accused Tehran of failing to provide full and accurate information about its nuclear program. Iran says its nuclear facilities are solely geared to generating electricity. A resolution passed by the IAEA's governing board Friday called on Iran to clear up lingering doubts by Oct. 31 and suspend all uranium enrichment activities.
The resolution implied that if the IAEA still had concerns about Iran's nuclear activities in November, it could declare Tehran in breach of international obligations and report it to the U.N. Security Council for possible economic sanctions.
Iran insists it has no nuclear arms ambitions and accuses Washington of seeking a pretext to invade the Islamic Republic, as it has its neighbors Afghanistan and Iraq.
PULL OUT OF NPT?
Several hard-line Iranian commentators have said Iran should follow North Korea's lead by expelling IAEA inspectors for good and pulling out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi Sunday said Tehran's future cooperation with the IAEA was under review.
"The relevant authorities are discussing it and our decision will be made public in future. We haven't made a concrete decision on how to continue cooperation with the IAEA," he said.
Asefi described the IAEA resolution as "politically-motivated" and said its three co-sponsors -- Australia, Canada and Japan -- had "made a grave mistake."
Diplomats in Tehran said Iran's decision-making process was complicated by divisions in the ruling establishment.
While the reformist government led by President Mohammad Khatami has been pushing for greater cooperation with the IAEA, powerful hard-liners close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have argued the opposite.
"The IAEA board's tough statement may have given hard-liners greater ammunition to argue that cooperation with the IAEA merely invites greater pressure on the country," one said.
The hard-line Jomhuri-ye Eslami newspaper in an editorial on Sunday said the IAEA resolution was "a historical opportunity to clarify Iran's position against the world's oppressors."
"This resolution is against Iran's dignity and independence and Iran will not accept it," it said.
The more moderate Iran newspaper urged policy makers to bear in mind that resisting pressure to open up its nuclear program to tougher inspections "could have a negative impact on Iran's economic activities, especially foreign investment."
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3439904