ID :
123574
Sat, 05/22/2010 - 13:52
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/123574
The shortlink copeid
‘UN has made historic mistake on Iran’
TEHRAN, May 22 (MNA) -- Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency has described the UN Security Council’s recent decisions on Iran as a historic mistake.
In an interview with the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar, Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh called on the United Nations to revise such decisions, saying, “Referring (a country) to the Security Council has always been useless.”
On Tuesday, the five permanent Security Council members proposed a draft UN resolution to expand sanctions against Iran.
The agreement reached by the six countries of the 5+1 group -- the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France, and Germany -- does not yet mean that the resolution is guaranteed passage. A Security Council resolution requires a minimum of nine votes to pass, so the five permanent members, or P5, said to be on board (Germany is not a permanent member of the Security Council) would still require the support of 4 of the 10 rotating council members.
Soltanieh also said Iran will not compromise on its nuclear activities and will not halt its uranium enrichment program.
Iran has proven its commitment to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has always allowed IAEA inspections of the country’s nuclear facilities, he added.
However, Iran objects to the Security Council’s demand that it suspend its uranium enrichment activities, he stated.
There is no legal framework or justification for the demand because the suspension of nuclear activities is never mentioned in the IAEA Statute, the NPT, or any other international laws, he noted.
Elsewhere in his remarks, he pointed to the U.S. claims that Iran has a clandestine nuclear weapons program, saying IAEA inspectors have never found evidence of diversion in Iran’s nuclear program.
The U.S. and certain other Western countries made such claims to use Iran as an excuse to transfer some areas of the IAEA’s jurisdiction to the UN Security Council, he stated.
But Iran will stand up to the pressure and sanctions so the West will not be able to use such excuses against Islamic and Arab countries, he added.
In an interview with the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar, Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh called on the United Nations to revise such decisions, saying, “Referring (a country) to the Security Council has always been useless.”
On Tuesday, the five permanent Security Council members proposed a draft UN resolution to expand sanctions against Iran.
The agreement reached by the six countries of the 5+1 group -- the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France, and Germany -- does not yet mean that the resolution is guaranteed passage. A Security Council resolution requires a minimum of nine votes to pass, so the five permanent members, or P5, said to be on board (Germany is not a permanent member of the Security Council) would still require the support of 4 of the 10 rotating council members.
Soltanieh also said Iran will not compromise on its nuclear activities and will not halt its uranium enrichment program.
Iran has proven its commitment to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has always allowed IAEA inspections of the country’s nuclear facilities, he added.
However, Iran objects to the Security Council’s demand that it suspend its uranium enrichment activities, he stated.
There is no legal framework or justification for the demand because the suspension of nuclear activities is never mentioned in the IAEA Statute, the NPT, or any other international laws, he noted.
Elsewhere in his remarks, he pointed to the U.S. claims that Iran has a clandestine nuclear weapons program, saying IAEA inspectors have never found evidence of diversion in Iran’s nuclear program.
The U.S. and certain other Western countries made such claims to use Iran as an excuse to transfer some areas of the IAEA’s jurisdiction to the UN Security Council, he stated.
But Iran will stand up to the pressure and sanctions so the West will not be able to use such excuses against Islamic and Arab countries, he added.
