[A-List] West Threatens, Russia Defends Iran

["tony black" <tal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Rick Rozoff

To: Rick Rozoff

Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 11:21 AM

Subject: [stopnato] West Threatens, Russia Defends Iran

http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050802144715.c7frx7k7.html


Agence France-Presse
August 2, 2005


How Iran could be taken to the UN Security council
over its nuclear program


-The foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany
issued a joint warning to Iran Tuesday, saying they
"would have no option but to pursue other courses of
action," a clear reference to the Security Council....


VIENNA- If Iran's confrontation with the West over
alleged nuclear-arms-related work escalates, the road
to the UN Security Council and possible international
sanctions would pass through the International Atomic
Energy Agency in Vienna.

The IAEA is a United Nations organization that
verifies compliance with safeguards mandated by the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of which Iran
is a member.

The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors, which meets
every three months, regularly reviews compliance with
safeguards and can appeal to the Security Council to
deal with countries that do not comply.

The Security Council can adopt punishing economic
sanctions if necessary.

The IAEA board is not due to meet until September but
can be called into emergency session on the demand of
any one of its members, agency spokeswoman Melissa
Fleming said.

The foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany
issued a joint warning to Iran Tuesday, saying they
"would have no option but to pursue other courses of
action," a clear reference to the Security Council, if
the Islamic Republic resumed nuclear activities in
breach of a deal struck with the European Union.

Fleming said the IAEA has not yet received a request
from the European trio, who are all on the agency's
board, for an emergency meeting.

If such a demand were made, at least three days would
be needed to convene an emergency meeting since "we
require 72 hours to call in the resources and to set
things up" at IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Fleming
said.

She said referring a nation to the Security Council
was "the ultimate sanction for the IAEA," which itself
has no enforcement powers.

In 2003, the IAEA referred North Korea to the Security
Council after the Asian country kicked out agency
inspectors and withdrawn from the Non-Proliferation
Treaty.

The Council did not impose punitive measures, despite
the severity of the case.

The IAEA has also referred countries to the Security
Council merely for information purposes, such as Libya
in 2004, after Libya had owned up to its
non-compliance and agreed to dismantle its nuclear
weapons program and cooperate fully with the atomic
agency.
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050802142515.hkepykvi.html


Agence France-Presse
August 2, 2005


Iran has right to enrich uranium: Russian official
 

MOSCOW - Iran has every right to enrich uranium, an
official at the Russian atomic agency was quoted as
saying Tuesday, amid warnings of an international
crisis over Tehran's decision to resume controversial
nuclear activities.

Under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rules
any "member country has the right to carry out work on
enriching uranium," ITAR-TASS news agency quoted the
unnamed official at Rosatom as saying.

"To ban Iran from such work is impossible. One can
only negotiate with them."

The press office for Rosatom would not comment on the
reported interview.

Russian technicians are not taking part in the
enriching process, the official added.

The growing row between Iran on one side and the
European Union and the United States on the other
"does not in any way hinder the completion" of an
atomic power station being built by Russian
specialists in Bushehr, said the official.

Moscow says it is only cooperating in civilian nuclear
power projects, while the United States fears Iran is
secretly trying to build a nuclear weapon.

On Tuesday Tehran reiterated its vow to resume uranium
ore conversion -- a stage before uranium enrichment.

Enriched uranium can be used as fuel for nuclear power
plants or, in higher concentrations, for creating
nuclear bombs.

The foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany
issued Tuesday a joint warning to Iran, telling Tehran
that "we would have no option but to pursue other
courses of action" if it resumed nuclear activities in
breach of a deal struck with the European Union.

The United States, which accuses Tehran of secretly
working towards building a nuclear bomb, has called
for Iran to be hauled before the UN Security Council
to face possible international sanctions.

Tehran says its nuclear programme is only geared to
produce energy.

The Rosatom official was quoted by Interfax as saying
that "we always supported Iran's right to developing
the nuclear-fuel cycle."

However, the official was also quoted by ITAR-TASS
saying that it was not in Iran's economic interests to
pursue full-cycle enrichment as this "demands the
set-up of high-tech enterprises and a huge quantity of
latest-generation centrifuges."









           
____________________________________________________
Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

---

YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS

•  Visit your group "stopnato" on the web.
   
•  To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
   stopnato-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
   
•  Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

---