WORLD / Middle East
Iran partially suspends nuke cooperation
(AP)
Updated: 2007-03-26 10:04
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran announced Sunday that it was partially suspending
cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog while hardline President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said the latest UN sanctions would not halt the country's
uranium enrichment "even for a second."
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki speaks during a news
conference in New York March 25, 2007. [Reuters]
Iranian state television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying the additional
Security Council sanctions imposed on Saturday "stem from the hostility
by some powers against Iran."
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"It is not a new issue for the Iranian nation. Enemies of the Iranian
nation have made a mistake this time too," Ahmadinejad said, adding the
new sanctions "will not halt Iran's peaceful nuclear program even for a
second."
Meanwhile, government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said the Cabinet on
Sunday decided to suspend "code 1-3 of minor arrangements of the
safeguards" with the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog, the International
Atomic Energy Agency.
The suspension would "continue until Iran's nuclear case is referred back
to the IAEA from the UN Security Council," Elham said.
Tehran's scaling back of cooperation with the IAEA was in apparent
retaliation for the sanctions unanimously approved by the Security
Council over Tehran's refusal to stop enriching uranium, a process that
can be used in the production of nuclear weapons.
The West strongly suspects Iran's nuclear activities are aimed at
producing weapons though Tehran says they are exclusively for the
production of energy.
The UN sanctions are meant to send Tehran a strong message that its
defiance will leave it increasingly isolated and open to even tougher
penalties.
But Iran remains defiant. The suspension was a response to "Saturday
night's illegal and bullying resolution by Security Council," said Elham,
adding the government was acting fully within law in the move.
In New York, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said "a few
select countries don't have the right to abuse the Security Council" and
described the new sanctions as "illegal, unwarranted and unjustified." He
said they undermine the credibility of the Security Council.
Mottaki said Iran has repeatedly sought negotiations with the powers that
drafted the resolution against his country: the five permanent council
members - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - and Germany. But he
accused them of lacking the political will to reach a breakthrough.
"If this political will existed, the other side wouldn't have imposed
preconditions on the talks," Mottaki said, referring to demands by the US
and its allies that Iran first halt enrichment before they engage in
negotiations on its nuclear program.
Mottaki said the world has two options to proceed on the nuclear issue:
continued negotiations or confrontation and the resolution was the wrong
choice.
"Of course, it will have its own consequences," he said.
In Tehran, citizens brushed off news of the latest sanctions.
"Why should we care about sanctions?" asked Ali Reza, a 21-year-old
shopping for a digital camera Sunday with his girlfriend. "We've become
accustomed to this kind of news. As long as I can remember, there have
been such reports in the air."
Saeed Laylaz, an Iranian political commentator, said that until the
sanctions hit normal Iranians like Reza - and the drafters of the UN
resolution went to great pains to point out that they did not - Iranians
would continue to shrug them off.
"Neither Western people nor Iranians would benefit from such
confrontation," said Lida Anvari, who was jogging with her husband in a
downtown park. Her husband nodded in agreement, and both said they were
fed up with the news.
Elham said that until now, Iran's cooperation with the IAEA went beyond
requirements under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which Iran is a
signatory to. He added that Iran has in the past promptly informed the
IAEA about its nuclear plans.
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