Iran warns of response to nuke sanctions
(AP)
Updated: 2006-10-31 08:42
"We do advise Britain not to squirm and not to do childish activities
concerning the resolution. Iran's nation has stood up and will not let you
achieve anything except humiliation," he added.
His speech was delivered after Iran officially confirmed on Friday that it
has doubled its uranium enrichment capacity.
On Monday, ElBaradei said that the IAEA was "unable at this stage to confirm
the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program which, obviously, is a matter of
serious concern."
ElBaradei referred to his earlier report to the Security Council verifying
that Iran had ignored the Aug. 31 deadline to halt uranium enrichment.
The UN nuclear watchdog had not been able to "make progress resolving the
outstanding issues - issues that require certain transparency measures on
the part of Iran," ElBaradei said.
The Iranians have insisted on their right to pursue a peaceful atomic energy
program as a member of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Iran's deputy UN Ambassador Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi criticized the "dangerous
trend" where countries outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty face no
pressure to join and acquire large stockpiles of nuclear weapons. He singled out
Israel, accusing it of leading "a masquerade of lies and deception
against Iran's peaceful nuclear program."
Iran wants all nuclear weapons eliminated but in the interim the
international community should take "all necessary steps to ensure universality
of the non-proliferation regime," he told the UN General Assembly.
At the same time, Danesh-Yazdi said, Iran has a right under the NPT to
nuclear technology and is ready to resume negotiations with the six key powers
that proposed a package of incentives to assure them of the peaceful nature of
Iran's nuclear program. But he made no mention of suspending uranium
enrichment - a key demand of Britain, France, Germany, the US, Russia and
China for resuming negotiations.
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