Ahmadi-Nejad speaks of nuclear program success
Iran-UN, Politics, 4/2/2007

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had said on Friday that Iran's nuclear standoff should be resolved through political means.

Speaking to reporters, he said "We always try to resolve Iran's nuclear standoff as well as other disputes through peaceful means." On probable US attacks on Iran, he said Russia does not believe in application of military forces in resolving Iran's nuclear issue.

The Russian foreign minister had already expressed the hope that Iran would show a suitable reaction to UNSC 1747 resolution and the joint statement issued by the Group 5+1.

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said on Thursday night that Iran is not considered as a nuclear threat to the world.

In an interview with Al-Arabia television network, he said the country poses no nuclear threats to any country around the globe.

Iran's problems should be resolved through comprehensive talks with all parties, he underlined.

Military conflict does not help resolve the issue, he said, adding that it only will lead to a regional catastrophe and will make the situation more complicated.

UNSC resolution only conveys a message that the international community is concerned about Iran's goals and calls for confidence building between the two sides, he said.

There is no doubt that the issue should be merely resolved through dialogue, he said. The international community should differentiate between technical duty of IAEA and political evaluations of UNSC, he pointed out.

"Although we declared that there is no evidence of existence of nuclear weapons in Iraq but they did not give us enough chance to accomplish our task and ignited the war," he said.

"On Iran's case, we hope that the international community will listen to our words and provide chances to help resolve the issue through dialogue," he said.

Meantime, an Iranian cabinet ratification on the Safeguards Agreement of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was officially communicated to IAEA Director General Mohamed Elbaradei on Thursday.

Iran's envoy to the agency confirmed that he had submitted the letter to Elbaradei. After issuance of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1747 to impose new sanctions on Iran, the Iranian cabinet in a ratification restricted cooperation between Iran's Atomic Energy Organization and IAEA. According to the ratification, a safeguard agreement with IAEA to expand cooperation with the agency, approved on February 25 2003, was suspended.

During the UN vote on Iran, and perhaps in a surprise position, Indonesia voted to support the sanctions. However, a recent poll by Indonesian news agency Antara showed that 72 percent of Indonesian people are against the United Nations Resolution 1747 which escalated sanctions against Iran, polls said. The Indonesian political party, "al-Tahrir", criticized the government for casting such a vote for the anti-Iran resolution of the United Nations.

Despite the resolution, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Wednesday that Iran will not give up its legitimate nuclear right even one iota. "Iran's nuclear activities are fully clear and transparent and we will continue our activities until restoration of our nation's legitimate rights," said Mottaki in a meeting with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on the sidelines of the Arab summit in Saudi Arabia.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban ki Moon said on Thursday that Iran's rights to attain peaceful nuclear technology should be respected. Ban made the remarks in a meeting with Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs Manouchehr Mottaki in Saudi Arabia on the sidelines of the a summit of Arab heads of states.

The UN top official noted that holding discussions and using political and diplomatic ways to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program are the best choices in this respect.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad yesterday renewed his former statement on success of the nuclear program and said the people will hear good news in this respect.

Iranian nuclear program is currently at Research and Development level to produce fuel for the power plants primary stage of which needs commissioning of at least 1,000 centrifuges.

Iran has planned to establish 20 nuclear power plants with total capacity of 20,000 megawatts by 2015 to meet the growing demand for electricity.

Previous Stories:
  Iran limits cooperation with nuclear agency due to 'illegal' resolution against it   (3/26/2007)
  Iran: Intransigence of West has fixes the nuclear position   (3/13/2007)
  Saeedi: Iran-IAEA stop cooperation on regional projects   (3/13/2007)

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