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IRAN IS DETERMINED TO DEVELOP NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY: MOHAMMAD KHATAMI

TEHRAN, 15 Sept. (IPS)

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami reiterated Monday his country’s determination to acquire nuclear technology aimed at strengthening Iran’s military power.

"We don’t want nuclear arms, no, no, no, this is against our policy and our faith, but we want to be strong and being strong means to have technology and nuclear technology is the most advanced, one that we would master thanks to the intelligence and the will of our children", the embattled President said, speaking to officers of the Revolutionary Guards.

However, he refrained from making any direct comment concerning the latest resolution adopted on 12 September by the Board of Governors of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that called on the Islamic Republic to adhere "immediately and unconditionally" to the additional Protocols of the Non Proliferation Treaty.

The resolution, formulated by Canada, Japan and Australia and adopted without vote was described by many Iranian political analysts as a "humiliating" defeat for the ruling ayatollahs, prompting Iranian media to urge the government of expelling the ambassadors of the three nations that initiated the Resolution, getting out of the NPT and "revising" Tehran’s relations with all the nations that supported the controversial resolution.

Mr. Hoseyn Shari’atmadari, a high-ranking officer of Iranian secret services specialising in interrogating political and intellectual dissidents appointed as Chief Editor of the evening daily "Keyhan" by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic Republic warned the authorities if they fail to boot out Canadian, Australian and Japanese top envoys from Iran, "the Muslim people of Iran would do it themselves".

But Iran’s atomic energy Chief Qolamreza Aqazadeh said Iran would proceed with its obligations with the Agency about the Additional Protocol.

"Tehran is fully committed to its NPT responsibilities, "not because of its contractual obligation, but also because of its religious and ethical considerations", he added.

As for the conditions sat by IAEA for Iran to fulfil clauses of the Protocols, Aqazadeh said Iran needed "few days" to study the Resolution before to officially respond to it, according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA.

"We have serious problems with this resolution. From its inconsistency with the NPT to its deadline for cooperation and its venomous language are all problematic. These are our preliminary views on this resolution. We are studying the resolution carefully and will officially respond to it in a few days", he said.

According to Iranian analysts, this shows that the Iranian clerical leadership is divided on how to respond to the Resolution.

"In the 25 years the ayatollahs are ruling Iran, they have never been in such an awkward and difficult position", commented Mr. Sadeq Saba, the senior BBC commentator on Iranian affairs.

"Now, Iran has to accept the Resolution or to follow the example of North Korea", he pointed out, adding that in this case, Tehran might face tough sanctions from the UN’s Security Council.

In an article on Saturday, the daily "Jomhoori Eslami" (Islamic Republic" that belongs to Mr. Khameneh'i actually suggested this solution, saying that "one must accept that North Korean dealing with IAEA and NPT is the correct one".

The Stalinist regime of Pyongyang expelled last December all IAEA’s experts and left the NPT altogether.

Mr Aqazadeh assured that Tehran would continue cooperation with the IAEA within the framework of the comprehensive safeguards will continue as before, but stressed that being a signatory to the NPT, "Iran’s right to the peaceful nuclear technology must also be accepted as an established and recognized fact".

"We are here with the message of willingness to find ways and means that would salvage the process and maintain the issue within the framework of the relevant international body, under the direction of the IAEA director general, taking into account the interpretations put forth by the majority of the Board member on the content of the resolution", said Aghazadeh, who is also a vice-president.

According to the official, Tehran would "surely" have had achieved the desired results of full transparency and confidence, but the Resolution "will certainly not help the process forward and is thus seen as "counter productive".

"The resolution goes beyond the words and spirit of the NPT and the IAEA Statutes, even beyond the provisions of the Additional Protocol, which we are still in the process of negotiating it", Mr. Aqazadeh argued, adding that the Iranian delegation could not have associated itself with
such a resolution which was "pushed to a decision through resorting to false attributions to the Secretariat, arms twisting at many capitals, and stone walling the views and amendments of not only 15 members of the NAM, but also those of others including some of the co-sponsors themselves.

Minutes before the Resolution was accepted, the Iranian delegation, led by Mr. Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s ambassador at the IAEA had left the meeting in protest, accusing the United States, France, Germany and Britain of masterminding the "illegal and illegitimate" decision.

"We reject in the strongest terms this resolution," chief Iranian delegate Ali Akbar Salehi said in a statement. "Unfortunately the sponsors of the draft reacted in total disregard for principles of multilateralism and did not entertain our amendments."

"This is unilateralism at its worst, that is to say, extreme unilateralism posed under a multilateralist cloak. We believe there is more to this resolution that meets the eye at the first glance. There is an agenda behind it that is conceived in escalating tension and chaos to divert attention from serious issues that deal with partial politics in the United States", Mr. Aqazadeh went on, adding that in Tehran`s view, such a heavy-handed approach to get a resolution casts considerable doubt on the validity, utility, and above all, the practicality of such a resolution"

He added that Iran’s planned nuclear development program to generate 7000 MW of electricity with secured fuel is "factored" in consideration of strengthening the Safeguards, through joining the Additional Protocol or otherwise, so as to encourage the international community to give a serious impetus to others in the Middle East to respond positively to Iran`s initiative for establishing the Middle East as a nuclear-weapon free zone.

"We firmly believe that the NPT is the cornerstone of the international efforts to achieve complete nuclear disarmament and to halt vertical and horizontal proliferation of this horrible weapon", Mr. Aqazadeh said, adding: "Now the essential question is posed as to which country takes the responsibility and the blame of providing Israel with nuclear weapons and thus overlooking its NPT obligations on non-proliferation?"

In his speech to the ayatollahs' Praetorian Guard’s officers and reported by the independent Iranian Students News Agency "ISNA", the powerless Hojjatoleslam Khatami also emphasised on Iran’s efforts and wishes for a Middle East – and the world – free of all mass destruction weapons.

Aqazadeh repeated that Iran’s nuclear projects have only "peaceful and civilian purposes", above all meeting the country’s increasing need in electricity.

But Washington and Tel Aviv suspects that the nuclear-powered electricity station that is under construction with the help of Russia is a "cover" for building an atomic bomb aimed primarily at the Jewish State that Iran ayatollahs want to destroy.

For its part, the 15-25 members European Union came closer to the United States after it was disclosed that Iran had secretly created sites for enriching uranium, a process needed for making atomic weapons.

In his last trip to Tehran, Mr. Xavier Solana, the EU’s Spanish Minister for Security and Foreign Affairs bluntly warned Iran that refusing to go ahead with the protocols would mean "very bad news". ENDS IAEA IRAN 15903

http://www.iran-press-service.com/