Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned in Teheran on
Sunday that Iran would revise its policy of being committed to the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if the country's right to
peaceful nuclear technology could not be secured.
"If we concluded that the current policy (on the NPT) cannot
protect the country's right, we may revise and change it," Mottaki
told reporters when asked on the possibility of Iran's withdrawal
from the treaty on the sidelines of an international meeting.
However, Mottaki expressed confidence that there was still space
for all concerned parties to reach an agreement through
negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.
Mottaki made the comments four days after the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors submitted an
assessment report over Iran's nuclear file to the UN Security
Council.
Envoys of the five permanent members of the Security Council,
the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China, convened in
secret sessions on Wednesday and Friday at the UN headquarters in
New York in preparation for the 15-member council to discuss the
issue next week.
However, the five countries failed to reach an agreement on the
move that the Security Council should take on Iran as the US and
Britain are inclined to adopt a hard-worded presidential statement
which Russia fears will lead to a counterproductive effect.
Iran has said that it will continue talks with the international
community to find a solution to its nuclear dispute in spite of the
negative situation but will never give in under pressures and
bullies.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi
said on Sunday at his weekly news briefing that the Russian
compromise proposal aimed to defuse the current nuclear tension
would no longer be on the agenda of Tehran due to "changes of the
circumstances."
Russia proposed last December that Iran transfer its uranium
enrichment to Russian soil, holding that the offer would secure
Iran's legal nuclear rights while guaranteeing the peaceful use of
the technology.
Iran suggested last month that it be allowed to enrich uranium
on a small scale at home in exchange for moving large-scale
enrichment to Russia.
The US and the European Union (EU) have expressed readiness to
accept the Russian compromise plan but insisted that Iran could not
be permitted to do any enrichment work on its own territory.
Denouncing the Security Council's involvement, Asefi also
threatened that Iran would resume large-scale enrichment in several
days, saying "we are waiting for the outcome of the Permanent
Five's discussions."
The spokesman further said that Iran would reject the
requirement made by the Security Council to re-suspend the
enrichment-related activities, which Tehran had once frozen but
resumed in steps since last August.
The tension over the Iranian nuclear issue has been dramatically
intensified since the IAEA board of governors in early February
adopted a resolution to report Iran's case to the UN Security
Council.
The resolution also urges Iran to suspend all work related to
enrichment and fully cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog,
calling on the Security Council to withhold punitive actions until
the March 8 IAEA meeting.
Rejecting the resolution, Iran disallowed IAEA's snap
inspections of nuclear sites and resumed small-scale enrichment
work in retaliation.
After the IAEA's Wednesday submission of the report on Iran's
nuclear program to the UN Security Council, IAEA chief Mohamed
ElBaradei stressed that the involvement of the Security Council was
"just a new phase of diplomacy, not the end of it."
Uranium enrichment is the key step for constructing nuclear fuel
cycle, but highly enriched uranium can be used for building nuclear
weapons.
(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2006)
