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Iran Threatens To Review Cooperation With IAEA
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Kharazi
hoped the IAEA would not yield to "political pressure"
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TEHRAN,
September 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Iranian Foreign
Minister Kamal Kharazi denounced Wednesday, September 10, the
"arrogance" and "extremist posture" of certain
countries over Iran's nuclear program and warned that Tehran might
reconsider its cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
"The
posture of certain countries (on the board of governors of the
International Atomic Energy Agency) is irresponsible and
arrogant," Kharazi said in a statement published by state news
agency IRNA.
"Unfortunately,
some are trying openly and willfully to destroy the process of
cooperation between Iran and the agency and seeking to cut the agency
out of the process.
"If
the extremists take control of the matter and do not recognize our
legitimate rights to have peaceful nuclear activities, we will then be
obliged to review the situation and the current level of cooperation
with the agency," he added.
Singling
out Canada for its hard line, Kharazi said: "In a speech to the
board of governors, the Canadian representative asked that the issue
of the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities be immediately sent to
the Security Council, thus wanting to ignore the role of the
agency."
He
expressed hope the IAEA would not yield to "political
pressure" and create problems for Iran in cooperating with the
agency, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
Iranian foreign minister said his country has already "basically
met the requirements of the additional protocol" by opening
itself up to inspections."
The
IAEA is set to consider at a meeting in Vienna Wednesday an October 31
deadline for Iran to prove it is not secretly trying to develop atomic
weapons.
Washington
accused Iran Tuesday, September 9, of being in breach of safeguards
under the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty but supported a proposed
"last chance" for Tehran to clear up questions about its
atomic program.
Deadline
Resolution
France,
Germany and Britain jointly called on Iran to fully disclose its
contested nuclear program by the end of October, in a draft resolution
submitted Tuesday to the 35-nation IAEA board.
The
draft called on "Iran to provide accelerated cooperation and full
transparency" to the IAEA.
It
said Iran should "remedy all failures identified by the
Agency" in complying with nuclear non-proliferation safeguards.
These
include "providing a full declaration" about the importers
of "components stated (in an IAEA report) to have been
contaminated with high enriched uranium particles," which could
be weapons-grade, the resolution elaborated.
It
said third countries, which could refer to Pakistan, should
"cooperate closely and fully" in determining who supplied
Iran with the contaminated uranium.
The
resolution said Iran should also allow IAEA inspectors free access for
"environmental sampling" at suspicious sites and resolve
questions about gas centrifuges which could be used in enriching
uranium.
Iran
should also sign an additional protocol to allow IAEA inspectors to
make unannounced inspections, the resolution said.
It
did not say what would happen if Iran did not cooperate, but a Western
diplomat said what was important was "that a signal is sent, that
a clear bright line is laid down that Iran must comply with IAEA
requests in a quick, complete and transparent manner."
Another
diplomat said the draft was in fact a U.S.-written resolution and
already had majority support from the 35-nation IAEA board.
A
Turkish diplomat said his country, which had been holding out, now
supported the resolution.
Ken
Brill, the U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, had said Tuesday that
Washington "believes the facts already established would fully
justify an immediate finding of non-compliance by Iran" with
international non-proliferation accords.
Such
a finding by the IAEA could send the issue to the U.N. Security
Council.
Tehran
insists that it has fully cooperated with the IAEA and denies it is
trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Brill
said Iran's cooperation with the IAEA "has at best been episodic
and reluctant and has frequently featured delay, denial of access and
misinformation."
He
argued that the IAEA is "at this time unable to provide
assurance... that Iran has not diverted nuclear material to
non-peaceful purposes."
Brill
said the United States had "taken note of the desire of other
member states to give Iran a last chance to stop its evasions."
Russia
Urges Cooperation
"The
Russian side is convinced that all questions concerning Iran's nuclear
program can and should be resolved trough (Iran's) cooperation with
the IAEA," Interfax quoted chief foreign ministry spokesman
Alexander Yakovenko as saying.
The
official called for the negotiations to be "constructive and
productive."
Russia's
own involvement in Iran has troubled many nations. It is constructing
the Islamic state's first nuclear reactor at Bushehr but insists the
project can in no way help Tehran's nuclear weapons ambitions.
Yet
Moscow stresses it will not launch the reactor until Tehran agrees to
return all spent nuclear fuel from Bushehr back to Russia.
The
signature of that separate protocol agreement has been delayed several
times, with some analysts suggesting that Russia is delaying the
project under pressure from the United States.
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