Tehran ready to export N-expertise: Khamenei: Severing of ties with IAEA threatened
TEHRAN, April 25: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that his government was ready to share its nuclear technology with other countries.
“The nuclear capability of Iranian scientists is one example of the numerous scientific movements in the country, and the Islamic republic is ready to transfer this experience and the technology and knowledge of its scientists,” the leader was quoted as saying.
The comment was made in a meeting with visiting Sudanese President Omar al Beshir.
The Sudanese leader faces his own standoff with the West over US-led calls for African Union troops in the restive western region of Darfur to be replaced with Nato-backed UN peacekeepers, something he implacably opposes.
Reacting to Ayatollah Khamenei’s statement, the White House accused Iran of seeking to escalate the diplomatic standoff, and called on the UN Security Council to intervene.
“I think you’ve seen by their statements that they only want to escalate the situation, that they’re continuing to move forward on defying the international community,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters at a media briefing.
“It’s time for the Security Council to look at the next step,” he said. “It’s time for the Security Council to look at what action needs to be taken for this regime’s continued defiance,” Mr McClellan said.
“The Security Council will be receiving a report from the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency here later this week,” Mr McClellan noted.
“We expect it will show that the (Iranian) regime remains in non-compliance with its obligations,” he said.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday renewed calls on Iran to abide by UN Security Council resolutions and its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, after comments made by Ayatollah Khamenei.
TIES WITH IAEA: Iran warned on Tuesday it would sever relations with the UN atomic watchdog if sanctions are imposed over its nuclear drive and vowed a military attack would merely send its activities underground.
Despite the tough rhetoric from Tehran, diplomats in Vienna said a high-level Iranian delegation was to hold last-minute talks on Wednesday with the atomic agency ahead of a Friday deadline for it to suspend uranium enrichment.
National security chief Ali Larijani had earlier refused to rule out using oil as a weapon in the worsening international standoff, warning of ‘important consequences’ for energy supplies if Iran was subjected to ‘radical measures’.
“If you decide to use sanctions against us, our relations with the agency will be suspended,” Mr Larijani said of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The IAEA has been investigating Iran for more than three years, and any cut in ties would spell an end to international inspections and monitoring of nuclear facilities inside the country.
The warning, made at a conference on nuclear energy in Tehran, came ahead of the Friday deadline set by the UN Security Council last month for Iran to freeze ultra-sensitive uranium enrichment work.
Iran says it only wants to enrich to make reactor fuel for power plants but the process can be extended to make weapons.
The country’s refusal to comply with the Security Council demand leaves it exposed to the danger of UN sanctions.
The United States has also not ruled out military action.
MEETING: France confirmed on Tuesday that the Security Council’s five permanent members plus Germany plan to meet next week in Paris to thrash out a strategy.
“We are working to organise a meeting in Paris on May 2 of the political directors of the three European countries (Britain, France and Germany) plus the United States, Russia and China,” foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said.
In Beijing a Chinese spokesman insisted the nuclear issue could still be resolved through negotiations, and called on all sides to show ‘flexibility’.
“We believe, in the current stage, there is still room to resolve this issue through negotiations,” foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters. —AFP
