Iran not to back down on nuclear issue as new resolution is issued
Iran-UN, Politics, 3/5/2008

The Security Council yesterday imposed additional sanctions against Iran for its nuclear activities the 15-member body's President for March stated today.

On Monday the Council authorized the inspection of cargo suspected of carrying prohibited goods, the tighter monitoring of financial institutions and the extension of travel bans and asset freezes, after Iran failed to comply with requests to suspend uranium enrichment activities. The measures follow Council sanctions imposed in 2006 and 2007.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad "So long as the Iranian government continues to be secretive about its nuclear activities .. we must inevitably conclude that Iran is hiding weapons work and thereby preserving or establishing options for a nuclear weapons program."

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin called resolution 1803 "a very carefully drafted resolution," focused exclusively on concerns associated with nuclear and missile proliferation activities.

Speaking to reporters in his capacity as Council President for March, he noted that the resolution was necessary because Iran had not complied with previous demands by the body and insisted on continuing with its enrichment activity.

At the same time, he stressed that all the resolutions make clear that "there is no indication at all of any willingness of the Security Council in any form to sanction or approve or condone the use of force against Tehran in order to deal with the Iranian nuclear issue." He noted that yesterday's resolution is part of a package that included the joint statement issued by "the Six" - China, France, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom and United States - in which they stated their willingness to develop "all-round relations and wider cooperation with Iran," starting with direct talks and negotiations, if it was willing to suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities.

"Greater opportunities are there for Iran if it responds positively to the offers by the Six," Churkin stated, including opportunities of "overcoming its problems with the United States of America." The joint statement indicates that the Six will be developing their proposals to provide benefits to Iran and the region in political, economic and security fields, and speaks about the need to have creative approaches regarding negotiations with Tehran.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had said that Iran and IAEA have concluded work on Modality Plan and cooperation between the two sides will be continued within the NPT and IAEA's Safeguard Agreement.

The UN Security Council on Monday started its meeting to comment on an anti-Iran resolution.

The session was held under growing political pressure of the US, the UK and France despite opposition of a number of non-permanent members of the Council.

The draft resolution seems to go against the IAEA report on peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program, and a major recent US intelligence report made public.

An Iranian nuclear official on Monday warned against any "irrational, illogical and unjudicial" behavior towards Iran. "Any irrational, illogical and unjudicial behavior will not only fail to solve Iran's nuclear issue but will also make related equations further complicated and tougher," Deputy Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization for International Affairs Mohammad Saeidi in Vienna, Austria, on Monday.

Iran's IAEA envoy Ali-Asghar Soltanieh said Monday that as the IAEA Chief Mohammed ElBaradei has shown in his written and verbal reports, remarkable achievement has been gained in Iran's nuclear issue.

Soltanieh told reporters after the IAEA Board's Monday meeting that all remaining problems with Iran's nuclear program have been investigated and solved based on the plan of action and all countries should accept that the IAEA Chief's message points to Iran's cooperation.

He said the world now witnesses promise vis-a-vis promise. "While we have completed plan of action based on our commitments, they have raised some questions again. As you know, some issues were raised in connection with tests and source of contamination. With the IAEA Chief's recent report, which announced the issue has come to a close, no technical reason is now left for Iran's suspension of enrichment." The International Atomic Energy Agency Chief Mohamed ElBaradei said on Monday that the IAEA has managed to clarify scope and nature of Iran's enrichment program, i.e. the P1 and P2 centrifuges.

"As a result, the Agency was able, as I reported to you in November, to clarify important outstanding issues regarding the scope and nature of Iran's declared enrichment program -- the acquisition of P-1 and P-2 centrifuge technologies," said ElBaradei in an address to the IAEA Board of Governors quarterly meeting in Vienna on Monday.

"As you can see from the present report, the Agency has since then been able to clarify all but one of the remaining outstanding issues, as identified in the work plan, relevant to Iran's past activities... The Agency's technical judgment is that these issues are no longer outstanding at this stage. This is obviously encouraging," said ElBaradei.

He said, "However, the one outstanding issue that is relevant to Iran's past activities is the so-called alleged studies involving possible weaponization activities. These alleged studies, which are among the issues which the Security Council directed the Agency to clarify, came to the Agency's attention in 2005." He added, "Iran continues to maintain that these alleged studies are either related to conventional weapons, or are fabricated.

The US intelligence community had recently released a major report made public in which it said Iran had stopped weoponization programs in the nuclear field in 2003.

The IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei verified the non-diversion of Iran peaceful nuclear program in his latest report to the agency's Board of Governors released on February 22.

He said in the 11-page report, "We have managed to clarify all the remaining outstanding issues, which are the scope and nature of Iran's enrichment program." Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here Sunday urged US statesmen to be sincere with their own nation and set aside obstinacy and officially recognize the inalienable rights of NPT members. "Following the release of IAEA report and removal of legal and technical ambiguities about Iran's nuclear issue, I recommend the US set aside its wrong approach and accept the realities concerning the country's peaceful nuclear issue," Mottaki said in a meeting with Iceland's Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and the Foreign Minister's special envoy Gretar Mar Sigurosson.

The US has had a hostile position against Iran and has also greater regional concerns playing into its decision to hinder Iran's growing regional role. Also, Iran launching space missiles and planning satellites launches may have been important factors for the Russians and others who also may want to keep Iran's advancement limited in certain scientific fields in order to maitaintain dependency and limit Iran's ability to act independtly.

Oran's President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad says some in the West are not pleased with the outcome of good cooperation between Iran and the IAEA.

Ahmadi-Nejad told the Spanish daily El Pais that some western states use Iran's nuclear activities as a pretext to pile up pressure on the country.

"Nuclear program is not important for them. They use it as a mere pretext. Of course what they think is not important for us. We have learned to live without them and this is the benefit gained from the experience," Ahmadi-Nejad added.

Ahmadi-Nejad had said on Saturday UN Security Council sanctions cannot make Iran back down.

Previous Stories:
  Elham rejects effect of any possible new anti-Iran resolution   (1/22/2008)
  President: Iran nuclear issue closed politically   (12/18/2007)
  European Union recognizes Iran's right to nuclear energy   (12/11/2007)

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