Wizdom
05-02-06, 14:31
Iran ends snap atomic checks, enrichment suspension
By Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - A defiant Iran on Sunday ended snap U.N. checks of its nuclear sites and said it was resuming uranium enrichment, a day after being reported to the Security Council over concerns it is building nuclear weapons.
Diplomats warned the response could escalate the dispute over the nuclear ambitions of the world's fourth biggest oil exporter. Tehran insists it needs nuclear technology only to generate electricity.
"Iran has stopped all voluntary measures that it undertook in the past two-and-a-half to three years," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference. "We have no commitment to the Additional Protocol any more."
Iran's main measure was the suspension of uranium enrichment. If enriched to a low level, uranium can be used in power stations. If enriched further to weapons-grade, it can be used in warheads.
Iran signed the Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003, thereby allowing short-notice inspections of its atomic sites.
DIVIDED SECURITY COUNCIL
The International Atomic Energy Agency voted on Saturday to report Iran to the Security Council, but the top U.N. body will take no action until an IAEA report on Iran is delivered in March.
The Security Council has the power to impose political and economic sanctions on Iran but there are divisions among its five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- about how to deal with Tehran.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said nothing could deflect Tehran's pursuit of atomic know-how.
"Our enemies cannot do a damn thing. We do not need you at all. But you are in need of the Iranian nation," he told a crowd in Tehran.
Iran has warned that any sanctions against it would send oil prices beyond a level industrialized economies could manage. Continued ...
By Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - A defiant Iran on Sunday ended snap U.N. checks of its nuclear sites and said it was resuming uranium enrichment, a day after being reported to the Security Council over concerns it is building nuclear weapons.
Diplomats warned the response could escalate the dispute over the nuclear ambitions of the world's fourth biggest oil exporter. Tehran insists it needs nuclear technology only to generate electricity.
"Iran has stopped all voluntary measures that it undertook in the past two-and-a-half to three years," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference. "We have no commitment to the Additional Protocol any more."
Iran's main measure was the suspension of uranium enrichment. If enriched to a low level, uranium can be used in power stations. If enriched further to weapons-grade, it can be used in warheads.
Iran signed the Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003, thereby allowing short-notice inspections of its atomic sites.
DIVIDED SECURITY COUNCIL
The International Atomic Energy Agency voted on Saturday to report Iran to the Security Council, but the top U.N. body will take no action until an IAEA report on Iran is delivered in March.
The Security Council has the power to impose political and economic sanctions on Iran but there are divisions among its five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- about how to deal with Tehran.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said nothing could deflect Tehran's pursuit of atomic know-how.
"Our enemies cannot do a damn thing. We do not need you at all. But you are in need of the Iranian nation," he told a crowd in Tehran.
Iran has warned that any sanctions against it would send oil prices beyond a level industrialized economies could manage. Continued ...