Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki vowed on Tuesday that
Tehran would never give up its right to uranium enrichment.
"The right to uranium enrichment is a right enshrined by the
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and Iran just wants to and will
enjoy its right," Mottaki told reporters.
Mottaki also voiced Iran's readiness to hold negotiations over
large-scale uranium enrichment but vowed that Tehran would not
accept any commitments beyond the NPT and the safeguard agreement
of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"We will not negotiate to give up our legal rights," he
stressed.
Meanwhile, Iranian Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Gholam-Ali
Haddad-Adel rejected as "illegal" and "unfair" a presidential
statement adopted by the UN Security Council on March 29, which
asks Iran to suspend uranium enrichment activities in 30 days.
"The Security Council has been affected by big powers...We
regret that the council, which must keep peace and security, has
turned into a tool for practicing discrimination," Adel was quoted
by the official IRNA news agency as saying at the first session of
the Majlis after the Iranian new year vacation.
The speaker was echoed by Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza
Asefi, who on the sidelines of the Majlis session called on the
Iranian nuclear file to be returned to the IAEA.
"We said from the very beginning that the case should be settled
in the agency and there is no reason for sending it to another
body. The dossier should be returned to the main body (the IAEA).
It is not yet late," Asefi was quoted by IRNA as saying. Asefi
further said that the IAEA would soon dispatch a team of inspectors
to Iran but the inspectors would not be able to carry out snap
inspections on the country's nuclear facilities because Iran "is
not currently enforcing the additional protocol of the NPT."
Iranian Ambassador to the IAEA Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh said on
Monday that the upcoming inspections would be taking place just on
the basis of the NPT.
Local media have reported that the new team of IAEA inspectors
will arrive in Iran on Friday or Saturday, but the exact date has
not been confirmed by official sources.
IRNA also quoted a western diplomat as saying that Director
General of the IAEA Mohamed El Baradei "is likely to" report to the
UN Security Council on April 27 over Iran's implementation of the
council's presidential statement.
Based on the agency's Feb. 4 resolution, the IAEA on March 8
handed over files of the Iranian nuclear issue to the UN Security
Council after a board of governors' meeting.
After three weeks of heated bargains, the 15-member Security
Council on March 29 approved the non-binding presidential
statement, asking Iran to suspend uranium enrichment activities in
30 days.
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Iran has denounced the involvement of the Security Council, vowing
never to give in to pressures and bullies.
In retaliation to the IAEA resolution in February, Iran has
downgraded its cooperation with the IAEA to the extent as just
required by the NPT, barring snap inspections enshrined by the
additional protocol while resuming small-scale uranium
enrichment.
(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2006)
