Kharrazi says IAEA anti-Iran resolution "politically motivated"
IRNA
Tehran, Sept 13, IRNA - Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi here Friday said the resolution passed against Iran by the governing board of the International Atomic Energy (IAEA) was "immature" and "politically motivated". He said the UN watchdog must have completed its investigations and reached definitive conclusion before issuing any resolution against Iran. Otherwise, he stressed, any decision by the governing board against Iran in the form of a resolution would be merely politically motivated and aimed to exert pressure on Tehran. Kharrazi made the remarks upon his return from a three-nation tour to Syria, Bulgaria and Bosnia-Herzegovina Friday evening. The IAEA governing board on Friday passed a resolution setting Iran an October 31 deadline to prove it had no secret atomic weapons program. He maintained that the United States and a number of European countries were trying to take advantage of the IAEA governing board for their political objectives. This, he warned, would leave very negative impacts and make the issue more complicated. "Naturally, we should now decide about our cooperation with the Internationa Atomic Energy Agency, "the Iranian foreign minister noted. He added that IAEA experts and Chief Mohammad El Bradei have stressed that many questions should be answered and that the agency was not in a position to draw definitive conclusions on Iran`s nuclear activities and technical know-how. With respect to these remarks, a "grave situation" has been created for the IAEA, Kharrazi said, adding, "We think the IAEA should fulfill its professional task at this juncture and not give in to political pressures." Kharrazi said Iran has so far cooperated with the UN watchdog agency and is ready to cooperate with its experts and director general in the future in order to clarify all the issues. After that, he said, the governing board can pass its final decision on Iran. Following growing U.S. pressure for action against Iran, the 35-nation IAEA board passed a resolution setting the deadline. "The resolution was adopted without a vote, a procedure very unusual in the IAEA", IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said. The Malaysian ambassador to the IAEA, Hussein Haniff, said that the choice to adopt the resolution without a vote meant that individual countries had the right to issue their own interpretations of its text. The Malaysian envoy handed out a written statement on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which has 15 seats on the board, which said that NAM interpreted the words "definitive conclusions" to mean "appropriate or precise conclusions" NAM had tried to get the United States to make this change in the resulution, but Washington refused. The resolution, submitted by Australia, Canada and Japan, calls on Iran to "provide accelerated cooperation" with agency efforts to clear up Tehran`s nuclear question marks. It also urges Tehran to suspend all further uranium enrichment-related activities. Iran`s delegation walked out of the board of governors meeting in protest. Iranian officials had repeatedly warned that imposing a deadline would aggravate nuclear tensions. "We reject in the strongest terms this resolution," chief Iranian delegate Ali Akbar Salehi said in a statement "Unfortunately the sponsors of the draft reacted in total disregard for principles of multilateralism and did not entertain our amendments." Head of Iran`s Expediency Council Hashemi Rafsanjani warned the agency against Imposing any "unjust" decisions against the country`s nuclear program, saying it could backfire. "Honestly, what is happening in Vienna is disgrace for the developed countries and international forums," he said at the Friday prayer service in Tehran. Tehran insists its nuclear programs are for generating electricity and that its equipment was "contaminated" with enriched uranium by a previous owner. 213/213/1382 End
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