Iran: we will not halt our nuclear development programs
Iran-USA, Politics, 3/9/2005

Asked that ÒIranian officials have threatened to break off the ties with the EU-3 if the EU-3 insists on Iran stopping all its sensitive nuclear activities.Ê What is the U.S. position and do you think it will pave the way for sending the Iranian case to the Security Council?Ó

The state department said yesterday ÒOur position is the international position.Ê Our position is the position that the International Atomic Energy Agency has taken, both through its Board of Governors and, frankly, through its leadership as well, and that is that Iran needs to fully comply with its obligations, it needs to sign the additional protocol, it needs to turn this temporary suspension into a permanent cessation of enrichment activities.Ê Iran has an obligation right now to reassure the international community that its statements about not seeking nuclear weapons are true, and the way to do that is the way the international community has laid out, both in the IAEA resolutions but also in the EU-3 package that they put together. So posturing by Iran is not going to get them anywhere.Ê Refusal by Iran to do this, that and the other is not going to get them anywhere.Ê The only way Iran is going to get anywhere with the Europeans or with the rest of the world is by accepting freely its obligations and undertaking to fulfill them.Ê Unfortunately, we have not seen that kind of attitude from Iran and we may have to consider what other action to take if Iran does not fulfill its obligations.Ó

This comes as the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported yesterday that: Iran pledged Tuesday to "strongly stand against" probable pressures as the country braced for a new round of nuclear negotiations with the Europeans, which a senior official described as "very decisive". "The next few days negotiations are very decisive in IranÕs nuclear dossier," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said of the talks which started in Geneva Tuesday and are expected to last for three days.

Asked what will Iran do if the Europeans refuse to accept the country"s position, Asefi said, "We will strongly stand against them and say "no" to their proposals. "This is the first time that the Europeans have got involved in a big case and want to solve it, thus it is very hard for them. "We hope this will not be the last round of negotiations and they will continue, but this depends on how the Europeans behave." The official stressed that Tehran was not afraid of being referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions. "The rights and interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran stand above anything," he said. "The Iranian people regard access to nuclear technology as their obvious right and according to surveys carried out among various walks of life, an absolute majority of the Iranians approve of it," Asefi added. IRNA added: ÒThe key sticking point in the negotiations is uranium enrichment which Tehran has suspended as a confidence-building gesture since last November, but the country insists that it cannot be cajoled to sustain the suspension for good. The Europeans, represented by Germany, France and Britain, have been pressing the Islamic Republic on this in return for a package of incentives. On Monday, a senior parliamentary official warned the Europeans to drop asking Iran to permanently suspend uranium enrichment or see ongoing nuclear negotiations scrapped. "If the Europeans maintain their new language on Iran in the next month"s negotiations, it will be our last nuclear negotiations with them," the head of parliament"s foreign policy commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, said.

Previous Stories:
  Iranian officials: Iran's right to peacefully use of nuclear energy   (2/26/2005)
  Iran strong warning to the US against attacking it   (2/11/2005)
  Iranian Defense Minister for Freeing the Mid East from WMD   (2/8/2005)
  Iran rules out US attack on its land   (2/7/2005)
  Rice: Iran's energy projects can eventually be used for weapons programs   (2/5/2005)
  Khatami and peace in the Middle East; Iran has right to peaceful nuclear energy   (11/8/2004)

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