European parliament acknowledges Iran's nuclear program
Iran-European Union, Politics, 10/13/2005

The European Parliament adopted a joint resolution on Thursday saying that the Islamic Republic of Iran "has the right to develop a nuclear program according to Article IV of the NPT and supports the proposals of the EU for cooperation with Iran in the nuclear field for peaceful use." The resolution was adopted by 499 votes in favor, 43 against and 89 abstentions during the plenary session in Brussels.

A report by the Iranian news agency IRNA continued: The EP said it strongly supports EU's continuing efforts for a diplomatic solution to international concerns over Iran's nuclear program in the interests of a de-escalation of the situation.

It stressed the importance of cooperation with the US, Russia, China and non-aligned countries in order to consider complementary concepts (such as the South African proposal) with a view to achieving a comprehensive agreement with Iran on its nuclear facilities and their use and taking into account Iran's security concerns.

It reaffirms that no military options should be taken into consideration in order to reach a solution to the present crisis.

The resolution ''deplores the existing double-standards applied to nuclear and non-nuclear weapon states, which can only be countered by credible nuclear disarmament steps, and calls on the EU to take the lead in bringing the nuclear disarmament negotiations out of the current state of deadlock.'' It calls on the US Government to actively support the negotiations between the E3/EU and Iran by delivering security guarantees to Iran.

The EP voiced concern ''about the intention of the US Ministry of Defense to integrate the nuclear weapons option into its pre-emptive strike scenarios and calls on the US to immediately halt any such plans in the context of a revised security strategy.'' The EP held a debate on Iran during its plenary session in Brussels Wednesday afternoon.

The resolution urges Iran to use the time before the next IAEA Board of Governors meeting in November to restart talks with the EU 3 ''in good faith free of duress and devoid of threats.'' The EP says it recognizes Iran's legitimate security concerns, considering that it is surrounded by states or military bases with nuclear weapons capacities, including such states as Pakistan, Israel, India and Afghanistan.

Meantime, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in first joint meeting of the government and the Majlis he president further emphasized, "Our moves have been logical, legal and wise and the enemies of the Iranian nation keep hatching plots in order to make our efforts face defeat, but they should be sure that we would not take even a single step back from our logical and precisely adopted stands."

He added, "Today the Islamic Republic of Iran's stands on significant international issues, particularly on country's nuclear program, are more resolute and logical than ever before."

Iran has made it clear that it is moving ahead with plans to fully develop its nuclear civil capabilities, as entitled under the NPT treaty. It is not clear if Iran's position in essence has become that Iran has nothing to negotiate about, since these are Iran's rights.

Previous Stories:
  Israel threatens the region; Janati   (10/8/2005)
  UK, US efforts to cow Iran on the nuclear issue   (10/6/2005)
  UK, EU-3 seek new strategy as their draft resolution against Iran fail support   (9/22/2005)
  EU3 distributes draft resolution against Iran   (9/20/2005)
  Iran rejects EU proposed resolution to IAEA Board of Governors   (8/11/2005)

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