IAEA deadline nonbinding, says Iranian official
2003-10-06 / Agence France-Presse
Iran intends to answer International Atomic Energy Agency questions over its nuclear program "as quickly as possible," even though it does not consider itself bound by an October 31 deadline to do so, the Islamic republic's representative to the IAEA told AFP yesterday.
"This date of October 31 is not a criteria for us, because we have not accepted this resolution," Ali Akbar Salehi said.
"We have said that we do not consider ourselves to be bound by this resolution, but... we will continue to cooperate with the IAEA and will try to make it so that the answers to outstanding issues will be given as quickly as possible," he added.
In a resolution on September 12, the IAEA's board of governors gave Iran until October 31 to guarantee it was not developing and would not develop atomic weapons.
The resolution, passed after heavy U.S. lobbying, also called on it to sign an additional protocol of the U.N. nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and implement it immediately and unconditionally.
An IAEA team is currently in the Islamic republic for what the agency's chief Mohamed ElBaradei has described as a "decisive" round of inspections and talks aimed at clearing up a number of key questions over Iran's nuclear program.
A failure by Iran to meet the deadline could see Iran being declared in violation of the NPT and the matter being passed to the U.N. Security Council, which could in turn decide to sanction Iran.
But while casting aside the deadline - branded by a string of top officials here as part of a U.S.-Israeli plot to undermine the Islamic regime - Salahi said Iran was determined to continue its cooperation with the IAEA.
http://www.etaiwannews.com/World/2003/10/06/1065405363.htmIf they are cooperating, it's either because they don't want the headaches of sanctions (assuming the Sec. Council would have the equaniminity to apply it's own standards and precedent fairly), or they have more than a little consernation about the US military stations next door.
Prairie
"Iran intends to answer International Atomic Energy Agency questions over its nuclear program "as quickly as possible," even though it does not consider itself bound by an October 31 deadline to do so, the Islamic republic's representative to the IAEA told AFP yesterday.
"This date of October 31 is not a criteria for us, because we have not accepted this resolution," Ali Akbar Salehi said."
I knew all the stories being written about Iran's cooperation were missing something. Not a criteria for them. Let's see what else is not a criteria for them.