Ahmadinejad attacks ‘fake superpowers’ in nuclear row
Iran denies seeking the bomb, but faces the prospect of being taken to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
The council’s five permanent members, including a reluctant Russia and China, this week agreed to ask the UN nuclear watchdog to report Iran to New York immediately.
Mr Ahmadinejad responded with defiance as he addressed a crowd of thousands in the Gulf port city of Bushehr, where Russia is helping Iran build its first nuclear reactor.
“I am telling those fake superpowers that the Iranian nation became independent 27 years ago and ... on the nuclear case, it will resist until fully achieving its rights,” he said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will decide at a meeting in Vienna yesterday whether to report Iran to the Security Council as requested in a resolution agreed by the council’s big five.
The resolution asks the IAEA’s board to “convey” to the council reports by the agency that raise doubts about the nature of Iran’s nuclear activities.
Despite support for Iran from countries like Venezuela and Syria, diplomats said the resolution should pass.
Iran says it wants only nuclear power, not bombs.
The IAEA said in a report on Tuesday that Iran had already begun preparing for uranium enrichment and continued to hinder the UN watchdog’s inquiries into its atomic work.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair told parliament Iran was not only breaching its nuclear obligations, but also “exporting terrorism around the region” and violating human rights.
However, Iran’s parliament reminded the government that under a law approved last year it must resume uranium enrichment and halt voluntary compliance with the Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if sent to the council.
Chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said this would mean removal of some fixed IAEA cameras used in monitoring that Iran has allowed under the protocol it has signed but not ratified.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislyak said after talks with Mr Larijani that Moscow’s offer to enrich uranium for Iran could progress only if Tehran restored a moratorium on nuclear activities.
Russia’s proposal is aimed at ensuring Iran does not master the tricky uranium enrichment technology that is vital for producing fuel for power stations, or bomb-grade material.
