Iran claimed on Thursday to have fully cooperated with the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and said it wanted to
return to the IAEA's framework, one day after the US threatened to
urge the UN Security Council to use sanctions to back
diplomacy.
Speaking at the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, Iranian
Ambassador to the Agency Ali Asghar Soltanie said that Iran's
nuclear program and activities were "exclusively for peaceful
purposes."
The Iranian diplomat also hit out at the US for describing
sanctions as acts of diplomacy.
"The world has to know that the US declared 'sanctions' as
'diplomacy' in the same way (the) unilateral military invasion in
Iraq (was described) as 'multilateral diplomacy'," he said, adding,
"The decisions on referring Iran's nuclear dossier to the UNSC were
based on ridiculous motivations."
The US has "poisoned the environment" on the eve of the
negotiations between EU High Representative Javier Solana and
Iran's Secretary of National Security Council Dr Larijani, said the
Iranian ambassador.
Soltanie declared that the EU-Iranian talks were "welcomed by
almost all delegates."
He said he was fully prepared to have comprehensive review of
technical, legal, security and political aspects in an open debate
with the US ambassador.
The IAEA has been much weakened since its establishment as an
independent technical international organization, he said, implying
influence from the US
Soltanie told the meeting that the international community was
carefully monitoring the developments in this historical juncture,
concerning not the nuclear issue of Iran, but a member state's
right to acquire nuclear technology and to apply it for peaceful
purposes.
?
US envoy Gregory Schulte issued a statement on Wednesday, saying it
was time to urge the United Nations Security Council to make
sanctions to back up its diplomatic efforts.
The US envoy also said that the sanctions, even if imposed,
would not mean an end to further negotiations.
(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2006)
