TEHRAN, March 9 Iran on Thursday rejected as “unjust” a decision by the UN nuclear watchdog agency to refer its nuclear programme file to the UN Security Council, and said it won’t be bullied into abandoning its pursuit of nuclear energy.
“The people of Iran will not accept coercion and unjust decisions by international organisations,” Iranian television quoted hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying during a visit to Iran’s western province of Lorestan. “Enemies cannot force the Iranian people to relinquish their rights. The era of bullying and brutality is over,” he told a crowd of supporters.
On Wednesday, the 35-nation board of the IAEA concluded a three-day meeting in Vienna on Iran’s nuclear programme, formally opening the path to Security Council action. Soon after, IAEA chief Mohamed Elbaradei sent a February 27 report on Iran’s status to the Council. The Security Council was expected to debate the issue next week.
Tehran’s newspapers published news of the agency’s decision on the front pages of their Thursday editions, but only the official Persian-language daily Iran had a comment on the latest development. The IAEA decision, it said in an editorial, was “a message of weakness and failure” by the organisation.
The US has warned of “meaningful consequences” if Iran does not back away from an international confrontation over its nuclear programme to develop nuclear fuel that could be used for weapons.
Washington and its European allies want Iran to give up altogether uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel.
Info Headline
Washington: The Bush administration has rejected the notion that proceeding with the civilian nuclear energy agreement with India undercuts America’s dealing with Iran on the issue, stressing that the US looks at both the cases differently.
Testifying before the full international relations committee of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said that unlike “autocratic” Iran, India was not rejecting the IAEA.
“Iran is autocratic and adversarial and one of the greatest threats to the world today. India... is ready to bring the iaea in for the first time to place safeguards on a great majority of Indian facilities. The Iranians are trying to kick the iaea out,” Burns said adding, “So these two countries are going in opposite directions, both in our relationship and with that of the iaea.” “We are far better off bringing India into the non proliferation system... India is seeking inclusion; Iran is seeking exclusion,” Burns added. He also emphasised that India had voted with the US at the iaea on the Iran issue. —PTI
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