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Iran tells nuke agency to remove cameras
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-07 07:07
In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was
still hopeful that Iran will take confidence-building measures with the IAEA.
"It's not the end of the road," Annan said of the Security Council referral.
"I hope that in between, Iran will take steps that will help create an
environment and confidence-building measures that will bring the partners back
to the negotiating table."
In his brief report, ElBaradei cited E. Khalilipour, vice president of the
Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, as saying: "From the date of this letter,
all voluntarily suspended non-legally binding measures including the provisions
of the Additional Protocol and even beyond that will be suspended."
Calling on the agency to sharply reduce the number of inspectors in Iran,
Khalilipour added: "All the Agency's containment and surveillance measures which
were in place beyond the normal Agency safeguards measures should be removed by
mid-February 2006."
Earlier, Russia's foreign minister warned against threatening Iran after
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld reportedly agreed with an interviewer at
the German daily newspaper Handelsblatt that all options, including military
response, remained on the table.
"That's right," Rumsfeld reportedly responded.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for talks to continue with Tehran,
adding: "I think that at the current stage, it is important not to make guesses
about what will happen and even more important not to make threats."
Lavrov said the use of force would be possible only if the United Nations
consented.
U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
urged the Security Council to impose strict sanctions on Iran if it fails to
comply with U.N. resolutions and arms agreements and warned that inaction would
greatly increase the chances of military conflict. He nonetheless stressed that
the United States favors a diplomatic solution.
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