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Iran to push ahead
24/12/2006 09:29 - (SA)
Nasser Karimi
Tehran - Iran's top nuclear negotiator said the country will push forward immediately with efforts to enrich uranium after the UN Security Council imposed sanctions designed to stop the nuclear efforts, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
"From Sunday morning, we will begin activities at Natanz - site of 3 000-centrifuge machines - and we will drive it with full speed. It will be our immediate response to the resolution," the Kayhan newspaper quoted Ali Larijani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, as saying.
On Saturday, the Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, increasing international pressure on the government to prove that it is not trying to make nuclear weapons.
Iran immediately rejected the resolution.
Larijani was quoted by the paper as saying, "We have said many times before that if the Westerners want to use the Security Council as an instrument, it will not affect our will. And it will make us more decisive in realising our nuclear aims."
He said the Security Council had discredited itself by approving the resolution.
The result of two months of tough negotiation, the resolution orders all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programmes.
It also freezes the Iranian assets of 10 key companies and 12 individuals related to those programmes.
If Iran refuses to comply, the council warned it would adopt further non-military sanctions, but the resolution emphasised the importance of diplomacy in seeking guarantees "that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes".
Iran insists its nuclear programme is intended to produce energy, but the Americans and Europeans suspect its ultimate goal is the production of weapons.
The United States has said it hopes the resolution will clear the way for tougher measures by individual countries, particularly Russia.
The Bush administration had pushed for tougher penalties. But Russia and China, which both have strong commercial ties to Tehran, and Qatar, across the Persian Gulf from Iran, balked.
To get their votes, the resolution dropped a ban on international travel by Iranian officials involved in nuclear and missile development and specified the banned items and technologies.
- AP
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