Iran to Remain in Nuclear Treaty, Chief Negotiator Says

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator announced today that Tehran would adhere to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, despite threats by the country’s parliament on Sunday to withdraw from the regime, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 8).

“We have no reason to leave the NPT. Our case is completely different from that of North Korea,” said Ali Larijani.

“The Additional Protocol is one thing and the NPT is another,” he said, referring to measures that allow for short-notice international inspections of a country’s nuclear installations. Iran has not ratified the Additional Protocol to its nuclear safeguards agreement.

“There must be a balance between the rights and the obligations stemming from the NPT,” Larijani said. “It is not fair that we should have all the obligations but not enjoy the rights.”

“There should not be hasty movements that will lead us to a confrontation,” he added. “There is time for diplomacy, the basic body that must solve this issue is the International Atomic Energy Agency” (Associated Press/USA Today, May 9).

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed a letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to U.S. President George W. Bush because it failed to address concerns about Iran’s nuclear work, the Associated Press reported.

“This letter is not the place that one would find an opening to engage on the nuclear issue or anything of the sort,” Rice told AP. “It isn’t addressing the issues that we’re dealing with in a concrete way.”

The letter made passing reference to the nuclear issue, asking why “any technological and scientific achievement reached in the Middle East region is translated into and portrayed as a threat to the Zionist regime.”

Larijani, called the letter a new “diplomatic opening,” but Rice said it failed to resolve any outstanding differences.

“There’s nothing in here that would suggest that we're on any different course than we were before we got the letter,” she said (Wadhams/Gearan, Associated Press/Washington Post, May 9).

Ahmadinejad called his letter “important news,” AP reported.

“What I said in my letter was the demands of Iranian people and our nation. I discussed our views, beliefs and positions regarding international issues as well as some ways out of problems humanity is suffering from,” he said (Associated Press, May 9).

Elsewhere, foreign ministers from the U.N. Security Council permanent member nations and Germany yesterday failed to agree on a resolution designed to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Agence France-Presse reported.

Recently appointed British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett called the gathering in New York an “important and difficult meeting.”

“Everyone believed Iran must give up its nuclear enrichment program,” she said. “It’s the way to achieve that we have to agree (on).”

The ministers agreed that Iran should be prevented from manufacturing nuclear weapons. However, a senior U.S. official said China and Russia remained opposed to U.S. efforts to press for action under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter, which allows for sanctions or military intervention.

“There is not yet agreement on the tactics and what’s most pronounced is that there is no agreement yet that this should be a Chapter 7 resolution,” he said.

“Based on tonight’s meeting, I would not expect a resolution to be voted on and adopted this week,” the official added. “I think it’s going to take a little bit more time.”

He said political directors of the six powers would continue discussions today and possibly next week in Europe.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday’s meeting had not been intended to produce a detailed plan, according to AFP.

“It was not intended as a discussion about the language on a resolution,” McCormack said. “This was intended more as a strategic-level discussion about how to deal with various issues presented by Iran.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for direct talks between the major powers and Iran (Agence France-Presse I/The Nation, May 9).

Lavrov said there was no discussion at the meeting of imposing sanctions, AFP reported.

“We did not discuss sanctions in any practical sense,” he said. “No one is proposing any sanctions” against Iran.

Lavrov called on Iran to take the issue “very seriously” and to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (Agence France-Presse II, May 9).

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing also called on Iran to cooperate with the agency, Reuters reported today.

“We hope Iran will fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency and clarify the related remaining issues so it can restore the confidence of the international community,” Li said after the meeting in New York (Reuters, May 9).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.