China said yesterday that a UN report showing Iran's uranium
enrichment program was gathering momentum, instead of being
suspended, was objective and urged all parties to strengthen
efforts to unravel the stalemate.
"We believe that the related resolutions of the UN Security
Council should be implemented," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang
Yu told a news briefing.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear
watchdog, delivered a report yesterday saying that Iran was making
substantial advances in uranium enrichment in defiance of two UN
Security Council resolutions.
Reports said Security Council members indicated that they would
not rush to impose additional sanctions before any decision is made
on next steps.
A senior European diplomat at the Security Council stressed he
expected the Council to await the outcome of high-level exploratory
talks on the issue between the EU and Iran next week.
China's deputy UN ambassador Liu Zhenmin said yesterday that
experts from six key countries will meet by the end of the month to
discuss the next course of action.
Iran dismissed the UN report and argued that it continues to
cooperate with the IAEA and abide by its commitment to the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The West suspects Iran is using a declared civilian nuclear
energy program as a facade for mastering the means to make atomic
bombs, while the country insists its program is for the peaceful
purpose of generating nuclear energy.
"The IAEA has so far been very careful about making its
judgments. It has not reached any conclusions about an Iranian
military nuclear program nor has it found sufficient evidence to
prove its innocence," said Yin Gang, a researcher at the Institute
of West Asia and Africa Studies affiliated to the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences.
Most importantly, the IAEA must be able to monitor the
enrichment levels, which would foster confidence within the
international community that Iran's nuclear program would remain
solely civilian, he said.
Negotiations are still the means to bring Iran back to the
world's nuclear non-proliferation regime, Yin added.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that Iran is
close to achieving its "ultimate goals", accusing the West of
trying to stop Teheran's nuclear programme in order to reduce its
influence in the world.
"The enemies want us to surrender so that Iran won't have
anything to say in the world," Ahmadinejad said in a speech
according to Iranian news agencies.
(China Daily May 25, 2007)
