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Iran threatens to resume enrichment
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-27 20:44
Iran on Tuesday threatened to resume uranium enrichment
and block U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities unless the U.N. atomic
watchdog agency stepped back from its resolution to refer Tehran to the Security
Council for possible sanctions, AP reported.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza
Asefi, speaks with media, during his weekly press conference in Tehran,
Iran, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2005. Iran threatened Tuesday to resume uranium
enrichment and block U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities unless the
U.N. nuclear agency retracted its moves to refer the country to the
Security Council for possible sanctions. [AP] |
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran also would consider
reducing trade with those countries that voted for Saturday's resolution,
particularly India.
"We were very surprised by India," he said. The country is interested in
importing Iranian natural gas through a pipeline that will pass through
Pakistan.
The International Atomic Energy Agency resolution put Iran on the verge of
referral to the U.N. Security Council unless Tehran eases suspicions about its
nuclear activities. The resolution told Iran to suspend all enrichment
activities, including uranium conversion, to abandon construction of a heavy
water nuclear reactor, and to grant access to certain locations and documents.
Iran has rejected the resolution, saying it was politically motivated and
without legal foundation.
Asefi said Iran was asking its European negotiating partners — Britain,
France and Germany — and the IAEA for two things:
"First, they should not insist (on the terms of the resolution). Second, they
should correct it. If the other parties' reaction is not along these lines, the
Islamic Republic of Iran will take these measures," Asefi said.
He said Iran would cease to abide by the "voluntary measures" that it has
been implementing as an expression of good will.
"If the IAEA and European countries don't make up for their error, we will
cancel all voluntary measures we have taken," he said.
Effectively, this means that Iran would resume enrichment of uranium, which
is currently suspended, and disregard the Additional Protocol to the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty under which it grants IAEA inspectors the right to
unfettered inspections of its nuclear facilities.
Asefi warned that referral to the U.N. Security Council could have unforeseen
consequences. The resolution set no date for referral, but said it would be
considered later.
"It's always easy to create a crisis, but not easy to control it," Asefi
said. "We are giving the IAEA and the Europeans a very serious warning about
this."
Iran would consider punishing those countries that voted for the resolution
by cutting trade, Asefi said.
"We will regulate our relations with other countries based on mutual
interest," he said. "There are different levers in different areas to reduce
economic ties."
Asefi said Iran's offer to give foreign countries and companies a role in its
nuclear program was a "sincere measure of transparency."
Europeans have disregarded the offer, which was made by President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad at this month's U.N. summit in New York.
"What should we do to prove our sincerity?" Asefi asked rhetorically. "We are
allowing them to lay their beds inside our facilities."
Asefi reiterated that Iran would never abandon its uranium enrichment
program, a right to which it is entitled as a signatory to the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty.
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