Bekijk volle/desktop versie : Dreiging VN sancties toch effect?



29-04-2006, 12:01
Iran: Will agree to UN-supervised uranium enrichment
By News Agencies

Iran's deputy nuclear chief said Saturday that Tehran would agree to United Nations supervision of its uranium enrichment process and intrusive inspections of its
atomic facilities if its case was referred back to the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The offer came a day after the U.S. called a summit of foreign ministers from Germany and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council in New York on May 9 to discuss a united response to Iran's nuclear program.


But Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said Iran would not yield to UN demands that it abandon uranium enrichment, and criticised the report by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

ElBaradei said UN checks in Iran had been hampered and Tehran had rebuffed requests to stop making nuclear fuel.

"The report was not completely satisfactory for us and we believe that the report could have been done better than that," Saeedi told state television.

However, Saeedi insisted Iran would be able to answer ElBaradei's concerns about the access granted to UN inspectors if Tehran's nuclear dossier were dropped by the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions.

The talks called by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice followed the release Friday of the IAEA report. (Click here for excerpts from the report)

"The report and the Iranians' actions that produced it really compel some form of action now by the international community... We think this will lead to consideration of a sanctions regime," said U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns as he announced the meeting.

The IAEA findings also effectively reflected a standstill between Iran and agency inspectors pursuing open questions linked to possible attempts by Iran to make nuclear arms.

Burns and other political directors from UN Security Council members Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany are to lay the groundwork for the foreign ministers' meeting with talks on Iran in Paris on Tuesday.

There is no agreement yet, but "the Security Council, to maintain its credibility, is going to have to find a way to act in a countervailing way" against Iran, he said.

The Council's three veto-wielding Western nations immediately announced plans to introduce a new resolution next week which would make Iran's compliance with the demands mandatory. To intensify pressure, they want the resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which means it can be enforced through sanctions or military action.

China and Russia, the two other countries with veto power, oppose sanctions and military action and want the Iran nuclear issue resolved diplomatically, with the IAEA taking the lead, not the Security Council.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton took the toughest line, saying "the IAEA report shows that Iran has accelerated its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons although, of course, the report doesn't make any conclusions in that regard."

He told reporters the United States hopes to move "as a matter of urgency" and introduce a Chapter 7 resolution next week, which will give Iran "a very short" period to comply and halt enrichment.

"We're ready to proceed; we're ready to move expeditiously," Bolton said. "And what comes after that is largely in Iraq's hands... They have to comply or the Security Council is free to take other steps."

Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry called it "a calibrated approach which is reversible if Iran was prepared to comply fully with the wishes of the international community."

"Then, the next stage of activity would not follow," he said.

"A diplomatic solution is what we're all working for, and our patience must be pretty consistent there in order that we achieve that," Jones Parry stressed.

China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya echoed the need for a diplomatic solution "because this region is already complicated... and we should not do anything that would cause the situation [to be] more complicated."

He said the implication of a Chapter 7 resolution is clear: It will lead to a series of resolutions, complicating the situation and creating uncertainty. "I
think whatever we do we should promote diplomacy," Wang said.

Russia's deputy UN ambassador Konstantin Dolgov told the Itar-Tass news agency that Moscow still sees no reason for a Chapter 7 resolution. He said the IAEA should stay in the lead on Iran and the Security Council should provide "political support" to the IAEA.

"Sanctions are not the way of resolving the Iranian problem, at least at the current stage, bearing in mind the information available," Dolgov was quoted as saying.

Bush: United and concerned world
U.S. President George W. Bush said Friday that, "the world is united and concerned" about Iran's suspected desire to build nuclear weapons and that he will work with other countries to achieve a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Bush said the IAEA statement was an important one that "reminds the nations of the world that there is an ongoing diplomatic effort to convince the Iranians to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions."

He said the world "is united and concerned about their desire to have not only a nuclear weapon but the capacity to make a nuclear weapon or the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon."

Bush said he was not discouraged by Iran's vow to continue despite global pressure. "I think the diplomatic options are just beginning," Bush said during an appearance in the Rose Garden.

Iran: We don't 'give a damn'
Earlier Friday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that no Security Council resolution could make Iran give up its nuclear program.

"Those who want to prevent Iranians from obtaining their right, should know that we do not give a damn about such resolutions," Ahmadinejad told a rally in northwest Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"Those who resort to language of coercion should know that nuclear energy is a national demand and by the grace of God, today Iran is a nuclear country," state-run television quoted him as saying.

Asked if Ahmadinejad was a man with whom he could work, Bush said, "It's going to be his choice eventually."

Bush has refused to rule out the possibility of military action against Iran but he emphasized the pursuit of diplomatic efforts. He said there are clear differences between Iran and Iraq, where the United States led an invasion in 2003 to remove Saddam Hussein.

Bush said Iraq had ignored 16 Security Council resolutions to disarm, had used weapons of mass destruction, was a threat to its neighbor and was shooting at U.S. aircraft conducting overflights.

"There's a difference between the two countries," the president said.

"Iran's desire to have a nuclear weapon is dangerous in my judgment," Bush said. He said that diplomacy was his first choice.

At the State Department, spokesman Adam Ereli said if the Security Council does not act, "there are other ways to work with states and organizations, to take measures that isolate Iran and that bring to it a cost for its unacceptable behavior."

Bush added he was not discouraged by Iran's vow to defy world pressure, saying: "I think the diplomatic options are just beginning."

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Friday that he hoped the Security Council would soon act against Iran.

"I think, if anything, the IAEA report shows that Iran has accelerated its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons although, of course, the report doesn't make any conclusions in that regard," Bolton told reporters.

Bolton said the Security Council should pass a resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which provides for sanctions or military action.

The West accuses Iran of pursuing a civilian nuclear program as a cover to acquire atomic bomb. Tehran denies it.

"Enemies think that by... threatening us, launching psychological warfare or... imposing embargos can dissuade our nation to obtain nuclear technology," Ahmadinejad said in Zanjan province.

Iran said this month it had enriched uranium to the level used in power stations for the first time and has vowed to pursue large-scale enrichment of uranium.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/710734.html

29-04-2006, 12:02


Iran: onder voorwaarden VN-inspecties
TEHERAN - Iran is bereid VN-inspecties van zijn nucleaire installaties toe te staan als de VN-Veiligheidsraad de zaak over het omstreden nucleaire programma van het land laat vallen en die teruggeeft aan het Internationaal Atoomenergie Agentschap IAEA.

De plaatsvervangend directeur van de Iraanse kernenergie-organisatie, Mohammed Saidi, zei zaterdag tegen de Iraanse televisie dat zijn land de VN op vrijwillige basis zal toestaan kort tevoren aangekondigde inspecties uit te voeren als de 'zaak-Iran' weer bij de VN-atoomwaakhond ligt, maar dat dat niet betekent dat Iran ophoudt met het verrijken van uranium. „De verrijking gaat door.”

http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/40119601/Iran:_onder_voorwaarden_VN_inspecties.html