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Iran to complain to Russia, China over IAEA vote Beijing calls for stepped up diplomacy
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
TEHRAN: Iran said on Tuesday it will complain to Russia and China over their joining in a censure vote at the UN atomic agency last week even as the two powers were split on the issue of imposing new sanctions.
A Russian diplomat said it was getting “difficult” to negotiate with Tehran and Moscow would support sanctions against it, while Beijing said it was time for more diplomacy and not for sanctions.
“There would be no change in strategic relations with these two countries (Russia and China), but we will express our unhappiness to them,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told a news conference.
His comments came as Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang called for stepped up diplomacy to resolve the crisis over Iran’s controversial nuclear programme. “Under the current circumstances, all parties should step up diplomatic efforts for a comprehensive, long-term and proper settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue,” the spokesman said.
Russia and China, which have previously opposed new sanctions against Iran, voted on Friday in favour of a resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) asking the Islamic republic to stop constructing a second uranium enrichment plant.
Qin said “sanctions are not the goal of the resolution, we should properly solve this issue through dialogue and negotiation,” adding China voted for the IAEA resolution in a bid to spur dialogue.
Both China and Russia are veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council and their backing would be key to imposing a fourth set of sanctions against Iran. Russia had already rowed back on its opposition to any more sanctions. President Dmitry Medvedev said recently that Iran could face further action if it fails to allay Western concerns about its intentions. On Tuesday, a Russian diplomat underlined the warning to Iran.
“We do not plan to remain in isolation, if there is a consensus on sanctions. We will not remain to one side,” the diplomat told reporters in Moscow, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We need to keep such an option in mind and consider the fact of sanctions,” he said, adding it was getting “difficult” to negotiate with Tehran. The second enrichment plant is being constructed inside a mountain near the central Iranian shrine city of Qom to safeguard it against any air strike by the United States or Israel, neither of which have ruled out a resort to military action to prevent Iran developing a nuclear weapons capability.
Uranium enrichment lies at the heart of Western concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme—the sensitive process can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or in highly extended form the fissile core of an atomic bomb.
Western governments accuse Iran of failing to give enough notice of its plans to build the plant near Qom and reacted with fury when Iran announced after the IAEA vote that it now intends to construct 10 more enrichment plants.
Twenty-five of the 35 members of the IAEA voted against Iran, while three—Malaysia, Venezuela and Cuba—supported it.
“For those three countries, we will send letters of appreciation. For those who wrongly tried to violate Iran’s undeniable rights, we will send them letters expressing our serious and friendly complaints along with our views indicating that their decision was wrong,” Mehmanparast said.
Iran insists it has a “legitimate” right to enrich uranium within the framework of the safeguards set out under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of which it is a signatory.
IAEA spokesman Gill Tudor said the agency had not been informed “directly” by Iran of its decision.
“The agency will be seeking clarification from Iran on its announcement,” he said. Mehmanparast charged that the West had been hasty in its reaction to the announcement about the 10 additional enrichment plants.
“Officials of some countries have rushed into adopting stances, which is indicative of the fact that they are concerned or angry,” Mehmanparast said.
He said Iran had had to take the decision as it had doubts about whether the West was genuine about a mooted deal for the supply of nuclear fuel which Iran rejected last month.
“If we do not get guarantees (for the delivery of the fuel), naturally Iran will have plans to move towards self-sufficiency,” he said.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
