Iran rejects IAEA resolution
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-09-25 08:29

Iran said on Saturday that a resolution adopted by the UN nuclear watchdog accusing Tehran of violating international nuclear safeguards was unacceptable.

"The resolution is unacceptable and illegal. The Europeans even failed to get a consensus on it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid- Reza Asefi was quoted as saying by the student news agency ISNA.

"It is very unusual for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to vote on a decision, so the adoption by vote this time showed that there is no consensus against Iran's peaceful nuclear program," Asefi added.

Internatinal Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Chief Mohamed ElBaradei speaks at a briefing after an IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna September 24, 2005. [Reuters]

Asefi's comments came hours after the 35-member IAEA Board of Governors adopted a draft resolution presented by the European Union on Iran's nuclear case by a vote of 22 to 1 with 12 abstentions.

The resolution fell short of calling for immediate referral of Iran's case to the UN Security Council, but accused Iran of breaching international nuclear safeguards and committing suspicious nuclear activities which had "given rise to questions that are within the competence of the Security Council".

Iran's top delegate to the IAEA Javad Vaeidi said in Vienna soon after the adoption that the failure of the EU's attempt to get a consensus showed that it was confronted with "the world resistance".

"The United States and Britain also failed to send Iran nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council, and they will be defeated in stopping nuclear fuel cycle by Iran," Vaeidi said.

Facing opposition from Russia, China and some Nonaligned Movement countries on the IAEA Board of Governors, The European Union dropped demand from the previous draft presented on Tuesday that would force the board to immediately bring Iran before the Security Council over failure and breach of its obligation to comply with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Reza Vaidi, Iran's head of delegation to the IAEA, speaks to media during the 35-nation board of governors meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the International Center in Vienna, Austria, on Saturday, Sept 24, 2005. [AP]

The current crisis was triggered by Tehran's resumption on August 8 of highly sensitive uranium conversion activities after rejecting an EU proposal to give up its nuclear fuel work in return for economic and technical incentives.

Tehran agreed to suspended all activities related to uranium enrichment last November as a "temporary and voluntary" confidence- building measure while talks with the EU trio of Britain, France and Germany lasted.

The EU has been persuading Tehran to abandon its efforts to build nuclear fuel cycles, including uranium enrichment, a move Europe believes would provide objective guarantees that Iran's nuclear program will not be used for military purposes.

However, Iran insists that it will never give up legal rights of the peaceful use of nuclear technology.

The United States accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons under the disguise of civilian program, a charge rejected by Tehran.

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