Iran leader vows no concessions on nukes
Updated: 2007-11-22 13:51
"They want to get a small concession from us — for instance, that we won't go beyond a certain point within the next four years or we annually make just a certain amount of progress," he said. "This will become a legal precedent. Then, they will come and threaten us to obtain another concession."
Ahmadinejad said Iran will not go beyond its current work with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, based in Vienna, Austria.
An IAEA report last week said Iran had cooperated in answering some questions about its past nuclear activities, but added that little is known about current work and that Tehran continues to defy a UN Security Council demand that it suspend uranium enrichment.
Iran contends its enrichment program is meant solely for the production of fuel for nuclear reactors that would generate electricity. But the US and its allies suspect the Iranians are secretly trying to develop atomic weapons.
Iran's state news agency, IRNA, said Wednesday that the country's top nuclear negotiator and the European Union's foreign policy chief would meet Nov. 30 in London for another round of talks.
However, EU officials in Brussels, Belgium, suggested it was unlikely a meeting would be held that day. Earlier EU-Iranian talks have often been preceded by a series of dates floated by Tehran.
EU envoy Javier Solana has been meeting with Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili on behalf of the five Security Council members and Germany, which have led international efforts to persuade Tehran to curb its nuclear program in return for a package of economic incentives.
In Vienna, an American diplomat expressed confidence Wednesday that the IAEA's 35-nation board will urge Iran this week to obey the Security Council demands on enrichment as well as open its nuclear facilities fully to international scrutiny.
Gregory L. Schulte, chief delegate to the UN agency, commented on the eve of the board's two-day meeting to discuss the Iran situation.
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
|
|
|