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R E G I O N: Iran confident of escaping Security Council referral

* Says Europe should not take ‘hasty decisions’ on nuclear issue

TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Wednesday there was only a ‘weak’ chance of his country being referred to the UN Security Council over its disputed nuclear programme.

“Taking into account the current context, the possibility of Iran’s case being sent to the Security Council is weak,” he was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. He nevertheless warned Britain, France and Germany – which are pushing for Iran’s case to be sent to New York – not to take any ‘hasty steps’. “I hope the Europeans have understood Iran’s very clear and direct message and do not make any hasty decision... which would complicate the situation for all sides,” he said.

Iran’s decision to resume sensitive nuclear fuel research has intensified fears that the clerical regime is seeking the bomb. The country insists it only wants to make reactor fuel to generate electricity.

Another official also repeated the threat that if Iran is referred to the Security Council, UN inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency would lose their current level of access to the Islamic republic’s nuclear facilities and Iran would resume full-scale uranium enrichment work – which remains frozen for the time being.

Enrichment makes reactor fuel, but can be extended to make the core of a nuclear weapon.

“If our case goes to the Security Council, whether as a simple warning, to reinforce the head of the IAEA or even to decide on sanctions, the government will be obliged to put an end to it suspension of activities,” national security spokesman Hossein Entezami told the government newspaper Iran. He said Iran would also ‘cease the application’ of the additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which ‘gives agency inspectors a free hand’ in the IAEA probe.

“This means our cooperation with the IAEA would be reduced, and the agency does not want this to happen,” Entezami said.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday the world could not deflect Iran from its ‘scientific developments’, a reference to mounting pressure over the country’s nuclear programme.

“The Islamic Republic, based on its principles, without being scared of the fuss created, will continue on its path of scientific developments and the world cannot influence the Iranian nation’s will,” he was quoted as saying by state television.

“We are not after nuclear weapons and the West knows this because obtaining nuclear weapons is against the country’s political and economic interests and is against Islamic teachings,” added Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters. “The IAEA has accepted that we are now part of the atomic club,” the leader said. agencies

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