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09/26/09
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Russia Urges Restraint Over Iran Nuclear News
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By Nikola Krastev, RFE/RL
UNITED NATIONS --
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has responded to revelations about a
previously undisclosed Iranian nuclear facility by urging all sides to exercise
restraint until all the details are fully analyzed.
Speaking to RFE/RL in New York, Lavrov also questioned assumptions that Tehran
was hiding anything and accused Western governments of withholding knowledge of
a second Iranian uranium-enrichment plant.
"As far as I understand there's no clarity regarding the legal aspects of this
situation," Lavrov said. "I don't want to go into legalistic analysis -- it has
to be provided by IAEA -- but don't forget that Iran did notify the agency about
its intentions, about its plans to construct a new facility, and we are
convinced that whatever is being constructed under the Iranian nuclear program
must be brought under the monitoring of IAEA."
Lavrov's statements appeared aimed at easing pressure on Moscow to take a
tougher line against Iran when the UN Security Council's veto-wielding members
meet next week to discuss steps to persuade Iran to comply with UN resolutions
on its nuclear activities.
The U.S., French, and U.K. leaders had
already condemned what British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
called a "level of deception by the Iranian government."
Obama Anger
In a weekly radio
and Internet address issued later, U.S. President Barack Obama
called it "a serious challenge to the global nonproliferation regime and
continues a disturbing pattern of Iranian evasion." He added that the world was
"more united than ever before" on the Iranian issue.
Obama said that in meetings and public statements, he and Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev "agreed that Iran must pursue a new course or face
consequences."
The U.S. and Russia are both members of the so-called P-5 Plus One -- the five
permanent members of the UN Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia,
and the United States) plus Germany -- which has a meeting scheduled for October
1 in Geneva to discuss the nuclear issue with Iranian officials.
Obama said the recent discovery meant "international negotiations with Iran
scheduled for October 1 now take on added urgency."
Iranian Defiance
Iran notified the International Atomic Energy Agency on September 21 that it was
building a second enrichment plant but that no nuclear material had yet been
introduced there.
Speaking to reporters on September 25 in New York, where he attended this week's
UN General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad denied that the
existence of the plant was a "secret" and said Tehran was not obliged to tell
the U.S. administration about all its uranium-enrichment facilities.
Following revelations about the new plant, Moscow issued a statement calling the
construction of a second facility a violation of UN Security Council resolutions
and urged Iran to quickly demonstrate that the facility is solely for peaceful
purposes.
Western governments accuse Tehran of secretly seeking a nuclear bomb capability,
a charge that Iranian officials repeatedly deny.
An aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mohammad
Mohammadi-Golpayegani, was quoted on September 26 by semiofficial Fars news
agency as saying that "this new plant, God willing, will soon become operational
and will make the enemies blind."
Moscow Wary
|
The Development and Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons
Today eight countries
are possessing nuclear weapons. The five nuclear weapons states
United States, Russia (former Soviet Union), United Kingdom, France
and China, are the only countries allowed to have nuclear weapons
according to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) from 1970. All
members of the United Nations except Israel, India and Pakistan have
signed the NPT.
source:
nobleprize.org |
Speaking to RFE/RL in New York, Lavrov expressed
disappointment that Western partners appeared to have kept intelligence about
the existence of a second enrichment facility from Moscow.
"Some of our Western partners said that they had known about this plant for
quite some time," Lavrov said. "If that is the case, A) we want this information
to be shared with us; [and] B) we really would prefer that this information had
been shared with us earlier, when our partners with whom we work on the Iranian
nuclear issue laid their hands on this information."
He cautioned that "we need first of all facts before we jump to discuss
sanctions or anything else."
Obama and Medvedev on September 23 had appeared to be
narrowing their differences over the possibility of further
sanctions against Iran over nuclear issues.
Some have suggested that a recent U.S. decision to abandon a Bush-era plan for a
European missile-defense shield was part of an understanding between Moscow and
Washington whereby Russia would ease its resistance to tougher treatment of a
defiant Tehran. Both sides have rejected talk of any such
quid pro
quo.
'No Legal Clarity'
Lavrov said he had spoken with Muhammad el-Baradei, the director-general of the
UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"As far as I understand, there's no clarity regarding the legal aspects of this
situation," Lavrov told RFE/RL. "I don't want to go into legalistic analysis --
[that] has to be provided by IAEA. But don't forget that Iran did notify the
agency about its intentions, about its plans to construct a new facility, and we
are convinced that whatever is being constructed under the Iranian nuclear
program must be brought under the monitoring of IAEA."
Lavrov said that so far the IAEA had no evidence suggesting that the
nuclear-fuel-production program in Iran was being shifted to military purposes.
Meanwhile, he claimed, pressure exerted on Iran through three previous rounds of
UN sanctions is working.
"We want to have all the facts presented to us by professionals, and we want
Iranians to engage in serious negotiations when we meet on October 1," Lavrov
said. "And this is the common position of the [P-5 Plus One] group, which issued
a couple of days ago a joint statement to this effect in New York."
Lavrov said that only through a consensus within the UN Security Council could
sanctions against Iran be effective.
He said unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union
are merely impeding negotiations with Tehran.
Israeli Alarm
Reuters quoted Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman as telling Israel
Radio that the revelations over a new Iranian nuclear facility has "done away
with" disagreement over Iran's nuclear intentions. He went on to call for an
"unequivocal" international response.
"I spoke this weekend with experts from the East and West," Lieberman said. "No
one has any doubt, according to the technical data that was published, it's a
military core."
Israeli officials have issued repeated warnings over Iran's nuclear activities
and refuse to rule out possible military action to preempt a threat.
Iran's previously acknowledged uranium-enrichment plant is at
Natanz.
with additional RFE/RL and agency reporting
| Related Story:
Iran announces
nascent nuclear enrichment plant
Press TV
- In line with its guarantee to the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) for clarity on its nuclear activities, Iran has informed the
agency that it is constructing a second plant for uranium enrichment.
"I can confirm that on 21 September, Iran informed the IAEA in a letter
that a new pilot fuel enrichment plant is under construction in the
country," agency spokesman Marc Vidricaire said Friday.
According to the spokesman, the letter underlined that the enrichment
level in the plant would only be up to 5 percent. |
Copyright (c) 2009 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
... Payvand News - 09/26/09 ... --
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