sonar732
02-04-06, 09:04 AM
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183802,00.html
VIENNA, Austria — The U.N. nuclear watchdog on Saturday reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council in a resolution expressing concern Tehran's nuclear program may not be "exclusively for peaceful purposes." Iran said it would retaliate immediately.
The landmark decision by the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board sets the stage for future action by the top U.N. body, which has the authority to impose economic and political sanctions.
Still, any such moves were weeks if not months away. Two permanent council members, Russia and China, agreed to referral only on condition the council take no action before March.
Twenty-seven nations supported the resolution, which was sponsored by three European powers — Britain, France and Germany — and backed by the United States.
Cuba, Syria and Venezuela were the only nations to vote against. Five others — Algeria, Belarus, Indonesia, Libya and South Africa — abstained, a milder form of showing opposition.
Among those backing the referral was India, a nation with great weight in the developing world whose stance was unclear until the vote.
Javed Vaeidi, the deputy head of Iran's powerful Security Council, said his country would "immediately" retaliate.
(Story continues below)
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He said that after approval by the Iranian council, Iran would stop honoring an agreement with the IAEA allowing its inspectors broad powers to monitor and probe Tehran's nuclear activities and would start work on full-scale uranium enrichment — an activity that can produce the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
Iran says it wants to enrich only to make nuclear fuel, But concerns that it might misuse the technology accelerated the chain of events that led to Saturday's Security Council referral, after Tehran took IAEA seals off enrichment equipment Jan. 10 and said it would resume small-scale activities.
Vaeidi on Friday said referral would mean his country would no longer consider an internationally supported plan to move his country's enrichment to Russia as a way of depriving Iran direct access to the technology. On Saturday, however, he said his country was still considering a response to the Russian plan.
The resolution refers to Iran's breaches of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and lack of confidence that it is not trying to make weapons.
It expresses "serious concerns about Iran's nuclear program." It recalls "Iran's many failures and breaches of its obligations" to the nonproliferation treaty. And it expresses "the absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes."
It requests IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to "report to the Security Council" steps Iran needs to take to dispel suspicions about its nuclear ambitions.
The resolution calls on Iran to:
— Reestablish a freeze on uranium enrichment and related activities.
— Consider whether to stop construction of a heavy water reactor that could be the source of plutonium for weapons.
— Formally ratify an agreement allowing the IAEA greater inspecting authority and continue honoring the agreement before it is ratified.
— Give the IAEA additional power in its investigation of Iran's nuclear program, including "access to individuals" for interviews, as well as to documentation on its black-market nuclear purchases, equipment that could be used for nuclear and non-nuclear purposes and "certain military-owned workshops" where nuclear activities might be going on.
The draft also asks IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei to "convey ... to the Security Council" his report to the next board session in March along with any resolution that meeting might approve.
Agreement on the final wording of the text was achieved only overnight, just hours before Saturday's meeting convened, after Washington compromised on Egypt's demand that the resolution include support for the creation of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East. Egypt and other Arab states have long linked the two issues of Iran's atomic ambitions and Israel's nuclear weapons status.
The resolution recognized "that a solution to the Iranian issue would contribute to global nonproliferation efforts and ... the objective of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, including their means of delivery."
A Western diplomat at the meeting said the United States felt strongly about not linking Israel to nuclear concerns in the Middle East when it considers Iran the real threat. But the Americans relented in the face of overwhelming European support for such a clause.
Support for Iran shrank after Russia and China lined up behind the United States, France and Britain — the other three permanent council members — earlier in the week.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/04/iran.wrap/index.html
VIENNA, Austria (CNN) -- The United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency passed a resolution Saturday reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program.
In response, Iran's chief negotiator to the IAEA said Iran would resume its full nuclear-related activities, without restriction, and will no longer allow snap inspections of its nuclear facilities.
"This resolution is politically motivated, since it is not based on any legal or technical grounds," negotiator Javad Vaedi said.
Twenty-seven of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board voted during an emergency session in favor of the resolution. Syria, Venezuela and Cuba were the sole countries in opposition. Five countries abstained: Algeria, Belarus, Indonesia, Libya and South Africa.
Vaedi told CNN he did not see the resolution as a "serious signal" from the international community, but rather a message from the Western bloc of countries. Iran has said it is pursuing nuclear research for peaceful purposes; the United States and other countries suspect Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb.
In a statement, the British representative said that, should Iran fail to comply with the board's wishes, the Security Council will be expected to bring additional pressure to bear on Iran.
The referral to the U.N. Security Council came one day after a top Iranian official warned such a move would mean an end to diplomacy, according to Iran's state-run news agency, IRNA.
The IAEA resolution includes a clause, inserted at the insistence of Egypt, that says, "Recognizing that a solution to the Iranian issue would contribute to global nonproliferation efforts and to realizing the objective of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, including their means of delivery."
That clause is considered to be a reference to Israel's undeclared possession of nuclear weapons.
The resolution called on Iran to take steps to build confidence and resolve questions about whether its nuclear program is indeed peaceful.
Those steps include re-establishing "full and sustained suspension of nuclear-related activities;" reconsidering the construction of a heavy-water research reactor, ratifying an additional protocol allowing inspections of nuclear facilities and, pending ratification of the draft, continuing to act in accordance with the provisions of the additional protocol.
Finally, the resolution called for Iran to allow "access to individuals and documents."
The IAEA board began the emergency session on Iran's nuclear issue Thursday. It was requested by the EU3 -- Britain, France and Germany -- after reaching an impasse in negotiations with Iran when the Islamic state announced last month it had broken IAEA seals on its nuclear facilities.
The EU3 submitted the draft resolution, with the backing of all five permanent members of the Security Council: Russia, China, Britain, France and the United States.
To get approval from Russia and China, the draft resolution was amended to request to delay any action by the Security Council against Iran until IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei presents a report on Iran's nuclear activities to the board next month.
But China's ambassador to the United Nations signaled that another diplomatic quagmire could emerge if the Security Council considers sanctions against the Islamic state.
"We're not in favor of sanctions," said Wang Guangya at the U.N. headquarters in New York. "We still have time to be flexible, to work diplomatic solutions."
Konstantin Dolgov, Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, echoed Wang's comments, saying he "We want only a diplomatic solution."
ElBaradei said the resolution would create a "window of opportunity" by giving Iran 30 days to consider proposals that would prove its nuclear intentions are peaceful, as the Islamic state insists.
The IAEA has asked Iran to return to its full suspension of "enrichment-related activities until the agency has come to a conclusion on the scope of the program," ElBaradei said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced that request in a speech Thursday, IRNA reported.
"They are determined to deprive us of our legal rights to access nuclear technology so that they would sell the same to us at a very high price," he said.
Over the next month, meetings will take place to consider issues such as a proposal under which Russia would enrich uranium for Iran, ElBaradei said.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in a prepared statement, said, "The world does not want -- and must work together to prevent -- a nuclear Iran."
VIENNA, Austria — The U.N. nuclear watchdog on Saturday reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council in a resolution expressing concern Tehran's nuclear program may not be "exclusively for peaceful purposes." Iran said it would retaliate immediately.
The landmark decision by the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board sets the stage for future action by the top U.N. body, which has the authority to impose economic and political sanctions.
Still, any such moves were weeks if not months away. Two permanent council members, Russia and China, agreed to referral only on condition the council take no action before March.
Twenty-seven nations supported the resolution, which was sponsored by three European powers — Britain, France and Germany — and backed by the United States.
Cuba, Syria and Venezuela were the only nations to vote against. Five others — Algeria, Belarus, Indonesia, Libya and South Africa — abstained, a milder form of showing opposition.
Among those backing the referral was India, a nation with great weight in the developing world whose stance was unclear until the vote.
Javed Vaeidi, the deputy head of Iran's powerful Security Council, said his country would "immediately" retaliate.
(Story continues below)
ADVERTISEMENTS
Advertise Here
He said that after approval by the Iranian council, Iran would stop honoring an agreement with the IAEA allowing its inspectors broad powers to monitor and probe Tehran's nuclear activities and would start work on full-scale uranium enrichment — an activity that can produce the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
Iran says it wants to enrich only to make nuclear fuel, But concerns that it might misuse the technology accelerated the chain of events that led to Saturday's Security Council referral, after Tehran took IAEA seals off enrichment equipment Jan. 10 and said it would resume small-scale activities.
Vaeidi on Friday said referral would mean his country would no longer consider an internationally supported plan to move his country's enrichment to Russia as a way of depriving Iran direct access to the technology. On Saturday, however, he said his country was still considering a response to the Russian plan.
The resolution refers to Iran's breaches of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and lack of confidence that it is not trying to make weapons.
It expresses "serious concerns about Iran's nuclear program." It recalls "Iran's many failures and breaches of its obligations" to the nonproliferation treaty. And it expresses "the absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes."
It requests IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to "report to the Security Council" steps Iran needs to take to dispel suspicions about its nuclear ambitions.
The resolution calls on Iran to:
— Reestablish a freeze on uranium enrichment and related activities.
— Consider whether to stop construction of a heavy water reactor that could be the source of plutonium for weapons.
— Formally ratify an agreement allowing the IAEA greater inspecting authority and continue honoring the agreement before it is ratified.
— Give the IAEA additional power in its investigation of Iran's nuclear program, including "access to individuals" for interviews, as well as to documentation on its black-market nuclear purchases, equipment that could be used for nuclear and non-nuclear purposes and "certain military-owned workshops" where nuclear activities might be going on.
The draft also asks IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei to "convey ... to the Security Council" his report to the next board session in March along with any resolution that meeting might approve.
Agreement on the final wording of the text was achieved only overnight, just hours before Saturday's meeting convened, after Washington compromised on Egypt's demand that the resolution include support for the creation of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East. Egypt and other Arab states have long linked the two issues of Iran's atomic ambitions and Israel's nuclear weapons status.
The resolution recognized "that a solution to the Iranian issue would contribute to global nonproliferation efforts and ... the objective of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, including their means of delivery."
A Western diplomat at the meeting said the United States felt strongly about not linking Israel to nuclear concerns in the Middle East when it considers Iran the real threat. But the Americans relented in the face of overwhelming European support for such a clause.
Support for Iran shrank after Russia and China lined up behind the United States, France and Britain — the other three permanent council members — earlier in the week.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/04/iran.wrap/index.html
VIENNA, Austria (CNN) -- The United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency passed a resolution Saturday reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program.
In response, Iran's chief negotiator to the IAEA said Iran would resume its full nuclear-related activities, without restriction, and will no longer allow snap inspections of its nuclear facilities.
"This resolution is politically motivated, since it is not based on any legal or technical grounds," negotiator Javad Vaedi said.
Twenty-seven of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board voted during an emergency session in favor of the resolution. Syria, Venezuela and Cuba were the sole countries in opposition. Five countries abstained: Algeria, Belarus, Indonesia, Libya and South Africa.
Vaedi told CNN he did not see the resolution as a "serious signal" from the international community, but rather a message from the Western bloc of countries. Iran has said it is pursuing nuclear research for peaceful purposes; the United States and other countries suspect Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb.
In a statement, the British representative said that, should Iran fail to comply with the board's wishes, the Security Council will be expected to bring additional pressure to bear on Iran.
The referral to the U.N. Security Council came one day after a top Iranian official warned such a move would mean an end to diplomacy, according to Iran's state-run news agency, IRNA.
The IAEA resolution includes a clause, inserted at the insistence of Egypt, that says, "Recognizing that a solution to the Iranian issue would contribute to global nonproliferation efforts and to realizing the objective of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, including their means of delivery."
That clause is considered to be a reference to Israel's undeclared possession of nuclear weapons.
The resolution called on Iran to take steps to build confidence and resolve questions about whether its nuclear program is indeed peaceful.
Those steps include re-establishing "full and sustained suspension of nuclear-related activities;" reconsidering the construction of a heavy-water research reactor, ratifying an additional protocol allowing inspections of nuclear facilities and, pending ratification of the draft, continuing to act in accordance with the provisions of the additional protocol.
Finally, the resolution called for Iran to allow "access to individuals and documents."
The IAEA board began the emergency session on Iran's nuclear issue Thursday. It was requested by the EU3 -- Britain, France and Germany -- after reaching an impasse in negotiations with Iran when the Islamic state announced last month it had broken IAEA seals on its nuclear facilities.
The EU3 submitted the draft resolution, with the backing of all five permanent members of the Security Council: Russia, China, Britain, France and the United States.
To get approval from Russia and China, the draft resolution was amended to request to delay any action by the Security Council against Iran until IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei presents a report on Iran's nuclear activities to the board next month.
But China's ambassador to the United Nations signaled that another diplomatic quagmire could emerge if the Security Council considers sanctions against the Islamic state.
"We're not in favor of sanctions," said Wang Guangya at the U.N. headquarters in New York. "We still have time to be flexible, to work diplomatic solutions."
Konstantin Dolgov, Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, echoed Wang's comments, saying he "We want only a diplomatic solution."
ElBaradei said the resolution would create a "window of opportunity" by giving Iran 30 days to consider proposals that would prove its nuclear intentions are peaceful, as the Islamic state insists.
The IAEA has asked Iran to return to its full suspension of "enrichment-related activities until the agency has come to a conclusion on the scope of the program," ElBaradei said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced that request in a speech Thursday, IRNA reported.
"They are determined to deprive us of our legal rights to access nuclear technology so that they would sell the same to us at a very high price," he said.
Over the next month, meetings will take place to consider issues such as a proposal under which Russia would enrich uranium for Iran, ElBaradei said.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in a prepared statement, said, "The world does not want -- and must work together to prevent -- a nuclear Iran."