Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki Tuesday repeated
that the imbroglio surrounding Tehran's nuclear program would only
be solved through political consultation and diplomatic
approaches.?
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, where he was attending UN
meetings on disarmament and human rights, Mottaki insisted external
pressure would yield no results and dismissed the Security Council
Resolutions as unhelpful.
Any action aiming to resolve the nuclear issue must be "neutral
and balanced" and take into account Iran's legal rights, he said,
adding that as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,
it was Iran's inalienable right to peacefully develop and use
nuclear energy.
Although Iran will not halt nuclear activities, it always stands
ready to broker a peaceful solution.
Addressing potential US military actions against Iran, Mottaki
said his country stood ready for all situations. However, he played
down any chance of a military invasion, preferring to place hopes
in a cooperative solution.
Earlier in the day, Mottaki spoke at a session Conference on
Disarmament, saying that Iran would agree to offering "necessary
guarantees" on its nuclear program once the UN Security Council had
ceased debating the issue.
If the Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany
"allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to take Iran's
nuclear issue over from the Security Council, my country will offer
necessary guarantees to help boost confidence regarding
non-diversion of its nuclear program," Mottaki said.
However, Mottaki provided no details on the specific guarantees
that could be tabled.
Meanwhile, the 15-member UN Security Council will begin further
consultations on Wednesday afternoon to mull over possible
sanctions against Iran council members moved closer to a draft
resolution on Tuesday.
"At 5 PM tomorrow afternoon, the P5 (the five permanent members
- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) will brief
the council and propose a draft, whether an agreement has been
forthcoming or not," said South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo,
the council's president for March.
Addressing the Iranian president's desire to speak at a Security
Council meeting, Kumalo said that so far he had not received such a
request from the Iranian government.?
Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham announced Monday
that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, wished to attend a
UN Security Council meeting to defend the country's nuclear
program.
(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2007)
