Soltanieh. Minimum cooperation
Photo: Reuters
Iran threatens to minimize cooperation with IAEA
Islamic republic's representative at UN nuclear watchdog says board of governors resolution against his country will have 'long-term consequences'
Iran
has threatened to keep its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "to the strict minimum" if its board of governors approves a resolution condemning Tehran, German press reported Thursday, quoting an Iranian representative to the UN nuclear watchdog.
Tehran's cooperation with the IAEA will be of "the absolute minimum of what we are legally obliged to," he added.
Any resolution against Iran could "jeopardize the current positive atmosphere" and have "long-term consequences," Ali Asghar Soltanieh warned in an interview to the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
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Iran will be the focus of the fifth meeting of the Board of Governors of the IAEA scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Vienna, due to its controversial nuclear program.
For the first time in four years, the six powers, the five permanent members of Security Council of UN (United States, Britain, China, Russia and France) plus Germany, have prepared a draft resolution condemning Iran, which could be put to the vote of the 35 governors of the IAEA.
China and Russia's support for this initiative is interpreted as a sign of the international community's growing frustration over Tehran's refusal to cooperate on the question of the true nature of its nuclear program – for peaceful use, as claimed by Iran, or for military purposes, as the West suspects.
Diplomats say that if the draft text fails to obtain sufficient majority on the board of governors, major powers are considering publishing it as a simple statement condemning Iran for concealing the construction of its new enrichment uranium center near the city of Qom.
