Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran warned from the repercussions of adopting a third round of sanctions thru approving the draft decision submitted by Paris and London to the UN in order to tighten the international sanctions against Tehran.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini announced that IAEA last report does not justify adopting a third round of sanctions against his country.
Hosseini advised the six powers that were expected to meet in New York to adopt a realistic and rational approach in dealing with Iran. He also added that Iran has the right to develop nuclear energy and uttered that sanctions policy will not thrive.
Before Hosseini’s statement, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had appeared in a TV interview in which he warned the Group 5+1 – the five permanent UN Security Council members (the US, Britain, France, China and Russia) plus Germany – about adoption of fresh sanctions against Tehran. In fact Iranian president called to keep his country’s nuclear file in the scope of IAEA.
Ahmadinejad said that western countries, Europeans and non-Europeans, shall know that if they took any action against Iran such as freezing assets, Iran will firmly answer and it is serious in this concern.
The US is at loggerheads with Iran over Tehran’s independent and home-grown nuclear technology. Washington has laid much pressure on Iran to make it give up the most sensitive and advanced part of the technology, which is uranium enrichment, a process used for producing nuclear fuel for power plants.
Washington’s push for additional UN penalties contradicted the recent report by 16 US intelligence bodies that endorsed the civilian nature of Iran’s programs. Following the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) and a similar report by the IAEA head in November which praised Iran’s truthfulness about key aspects of its past nuclear activities, Russia and China increased resistance to any further punitive measures by the Security Council.
Tehran says it never worked on atomic weapons and wants to enrich uranium merely for civilian purposes, including generation of electricity, a claim substantiated by the NIE and IAEA reports.
Iran has insisted it would continue enriching uranium because it needs to provide fuel to a 300-megawatt light-water reactor it is building in the southwestern town of Darkhovin.
Not only many Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but also many other world nations have called the UN Security Council pressure unjustified, especially in the wake of recent IAEA reports saying Iran had increased cooperation with the agency.
US President George W. Bush, who finished a tour of the Middle East earlier this month has called on his Arab allies to unite against Iran.
But hosting officials of the regional nations dismissed Bush’s allegations, describing Tehran as a good friend of their countries.
Bush’s attempt to rally international pressure against Iran has lost steam due to the growing international vigilance, specially following the latest IAEA and US intelligence reports.
