Iran firm on nuclear stand-off

2005-09-20 22:23

Tehran - Iran will "not surrender to any sort of pressure and threat", declares supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday, as the country faces the threat of being referred to the United Nations security council about its nuclear programme.

Khamenei said: "The great Iranian nation today, stronger than before and with a determined will to reach its aims and goals, stands solidly and will not surrender to any sort of pressure and threat.

"The president, at the UN and before the eyes of the world, solidly and with power outlined Iran's position, which was the words of all Iranians."

Khamenei was speaking of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's tough declaration to the UN general assembly on Saturday.

UN atomic watchdog

Khamenei said: "His speech meant that the Iranian nation has a powerful and unwavering will."

The all-powerful leader's declaration came as Europe's top three powers - Britain, France and Germany - distributed a draft resolution at the UN atomic watchdog - calling for Iran to be reported to the UN security council over potentially weapons-related nuclear fuel work.

Ahmadinejad, who in New York gave a fiery speech and refused to abandon nuclear work, also insisted on state television on Monday that "our position remains the same and will not change".

He said: "They are doing what they have to do and we are doing what we have to do. The Iranian people will retain their rights and nothing special will happen."

Uranium conversion work

The emergence of the draft resolution ended weeks of speculation about how strongly the West would move to counter Iran after it resumed uranium conversion work last month.

Conversion was a precursor to enrichment, a process to make reactor fuel, but which could be potentially diverted to military purposes.

Iran claimed its nuclear programme was peaceful and that it had the right to this technology under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The fuel work torpedoed talks with the three EU countries, known as the EU-3, which was aimed at obtaining guarantees from Iran that it was not secretly developing nuclear weapons.

35-nation board of governors

The EU-3 draft was to be given to other members of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors for review and possible revision before being submitted for a consensus decision or vote.

On Monday the United States called on Iran to resume talks with the EU-3 and return to a full freeze of fuel cycle work.

White House spokesperson Scott McClellan said: "We urge Iran to return to the negotiations as soon as possible and live up to the agreement they made with the Europeans.

"We've expressed our concerns about Iran's behaviour. Those concerns are well known.

"And that's why it's important for Iran to get back to negotiations and abide by what they said they would do with the Europeans, which means suspending their nuclear enrichment activities."

- AFP