Posted on 02/04/2006 2:06:44 PM PST by Gengis Khan
VIENNA: India on Saturday voted in favour of a West-led resolution in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that reports the Iranian nuclear defiance to the UN Security Council.
Syria, Venezuela and Cuba were the only countries to oppose the resolution at the meeting of the IAEA's 35-member board of governors.
The resolution lists steps required of Iran to restore international confidence in its nuclear programme accused by the European Union troika - Britain, France and Germany - and other permanent members of the Security Council of developing nuclear weapons.
At a meeting in London earlier this week, envoys of the P-5 countries -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the US -- decided to call on the IAEA to report Iran to the UN Security Council for its alleged violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The resolution, however, puts off any action against Tehran until March till the IAEA chief Mohammed El Baradei submits his report on Iranian compliance with its nuclear safeguards resolution.
IRAN NOT WORRIED: plans immediately to carry out its threats to cut off cooperation with the world's atomic energy watchdog, an Iranian official said in the wake of a majority vote reporting Tehran to the UN Security Council.
"The Iranian government must now bring into force our law to suspend voluntary cooperation," Javad Vaidi, the deputy head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (NSC), told reporters in Vienna minutes after the result was announced.
"Until now we have only been researching uranium enrichment; now we have to start full-scale production," he said.
The 35-member board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) produced a clear majority in the vote, with 27 for, five abstentions and only three votes against.
"The IAEA board has just agreed to send a further strong message to Iran," said Peter Jenkins, Britain's ambassador to the IAEA. "Board members cannot understand why Iran is so determined to press on with its enrichment programme."
"They have called for an immediate re-suspension of all enrichment activities and further confidence-building measures," he said.
Jenkins confirmed that the council would do nothing until the IAEA's next regular board meeting on March 6.
At this point, IAEA Director General Mohamed El Baradei plans to send a new report to the council, plus a report that last September found Iran in violation of the agency's safeguards.
El Baradei earlier called this grace period, insisted upon by Russia, a "window of opportunity" for Iran to regain international trust, and Jenkins reiterated this message after the vote.
The ambassador added, however, that Iran's threats seemed to suggest that, "it does not intend to heed the board's calls."
Iran broke the IAEA seals on equipment for enriching uranium, which can be used in nuclear weapons, in early January, but said that it was only for research and development purposes.
It repeatedly said in the run-up to the vote that it would end all voluntary cooperation with the IAEA, including snap inspections under the additional protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iran ratified the treaty in 1970, but not the protocol.
Vaidi, however, dismissed the vote as unrepresentative and of being prompted by the concerns of only a few countries.
"This resolution is politically motivated," he said. "The lack of consensus clearly indicates that it isn't an international concern."
The US has long been calling for Iran to be referred, and their calls increased since El Baradei's report last September.
US Ambassador Gregory Schulte said that the IAEA had fulfilled its obligations under its mandate.
"There was a majority vote in September to refer, but we put it off to give Iran the chance to build confidence," he said. "It responded by breaking the seals.
Ping!
Freepmail me if you want to to be on/off the Indo-US pinglist.
Venezuela is painting themselves into a corner.
Am glad to see the leftie commie coalition partners didn't hijack Delhi's agenda. India should put national interest foremost and not let domestic politics spillover into the int'l relations domain.
Weasels.
LOL!
Bend over, dude! Here it comes!
Go play with a bomb laden turbin. I hear they are all the rage.
Obviously you've been in a hole the past few days. Go to this thing called Google and query on "bomb laden turban." Asshat might be there as well as the term is interchangable.
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