| The IAEA is in no hurry to quarrel with Iran Yesterday in Vienna, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) met for an emergency meeting. The day before yesterday, Iran, contrary to requests from the international community, resumed uranium processing at the nuclear center in Isfahan. This work was frozen" in November 2004 by agreement with the "European trio" - Great Britain, France and Germany.
The United States has long proposed to transfer Tehran's nuclear file to the UN Security Council in order to announce international sanctions against Iran. But Russian experts working on this topic, in a conversation with a Vremya Novostey correspondent yesterday, expressed the hope that “things will not go to such extremes.” Moreover, Iran has not formally violated anything, and its nuclear programs are peaceful. Moreover, the resumption of work at the Isfahan center took place under the control of IAEA inspectors.
Even before the meeting in Vienna began, the Iranians made their position clear by issuing a statement from Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani (pictured) : “Iran will not bend under international pressure” and will accept “only a resolution that will comply with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and its Additional Protocol,” and “if UN sanctions are imposed on Tehran, this will not change anything.”
The adoption of the resolution in Vienna will last at least until Thursday: at the meeting, a tough struggle unfolded over the wording between the Europeans, the United States, Canada and Australia, on the one hand, and members of the Non-Aligned Movement supporting Iran. The details of the dispute are not known; the session is being held behind closed doors. But the Director General of the IAEA, the Egyptian Muhammad ElBaradei, said that in the Iranian problem there was only a “misfire” and not systematic violations of obligations.
Tehran remains ready for dialogue with the European troika and therefore, according to the deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Saidi, maintains a “temporary moratorium on uranium enrichment work at the Natanz facility.” He said Iran “will not insist on continuing the negotiation process” if the Europeans “refuse dialogue.” And the head of the Iranian Ministry of Defense, Ali Shamkhani, considered it necessary to warn: “If the day does come when Iranian civilian nuclear facilities are attacked, then the Islamic Republic will no longer comply with its obligations.” Katerina LABETSKAYA |
|
