Iran accuses US of double-standards on nuclear issue, misses informal nuclear offer deadline
Sunday, 3 August 2008
TEHRAN, August 2 (Reuters) : Iran has accused the United States of double standards following a nuclear deal with India, state television said Saturday, just before a deadline set by the West in a dispute over Tehran's own atomic ambitions.
Western powers gave Iran two weeks from July 19 to respond to their offer to hold off on imposing more UN sanctions on Iran if Tehran would freeze any expansion of its nuclear work.
That would suggest a deadline of Saturday, although Russia, one of the six powers facing Iran, has opposed a deadline and Iran dismissed the idea of having two weeks to reply.
The West accuses Iran of seeking to build nuclear warheads under cover of a civilian power programme. Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, denies the charge.
"We have not had any discussion (or) agreement of the so-called timeline of two weeks," Iran's representative to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told the state Press TV satellite station.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was due to arrive in Tehran Saturday, a few weeks after he said he would respond to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's request and use his good ties with Iran to help resolve its stand-off with the West.
Assad was expected to meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other senior officials during a two-day visit.
In Vienna, Soltanieh criticized US policy after governors of the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, on Friday approved an inspections plan for India, an important step towards completing a nuclear trade accord between New Delhi and Washington.
Unlike India, Iran is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Soltanieh accused the United States of a discriminatory move and of violating the "spirit and letter" of the NPT, while he said Iran faced restrictions and was being "deprived from access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes." Press TV said in a headline: "Iran condemns US double nuclear standards."
The inspection plan will permit regular IAEA surveillance of India's declared civilian nuclear energy plants.
The decision clears a hurdle to an accord that would allow exports of nuclear fuel and technology for civilian use to India after a 34-year ban imposed because India tested atomic bombs and has not signed the NPT. But some smaller Western and developing nations and disarmament groups fear it could weaken allegiance to the NPT.
The United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany in June offered Iran economic and other incentives to coax it into halting uranium enrichment, which can have both civilian and military uses.
The freeze idea is aimed at getting preliminary talks started, although formal negotiations on the incentives package will not start before Iran stops enriching uranium, which Tehran says is solely aimed at providing fuel for power plants.
Iran, whose refusal to halt the work has drawn three rounds of UN sanctions since 2006, has rejected suspension in the past and has given no indication that it is ready for a freeze.
Another report from Brussels adds: Iran has missed an informal Saturday deadline to respond to an offer by major powers on its nuclear programme, a European Union official said, but European diplomats are ready to wait a few more days for an answer.
Major powers asked Iran on July 19 to respond within two weeks to their offer to hold off from imposing more UN sanctions if Tehran froze expansion of its nuclear work. Iran has dismissed the idea of having a deadline to reply.
"There is nothing new (from Iran)," one EU official said Saturday, adding that the bloc did not really expect an answer over the weekend.
"One should not focus on the deadline too much ... what matters is that we get a clear answer quickly, it's not a matter of one day," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the nuclear talks.
Western powers gave Iran two weeks from July 19 to respond to their offer to hold off on imposing more UN sanctions on Iran if Tehran would freeze any expansion of its nuclear work.
That would suggest a deadline of Saturday, although Russia, one of the six powers facing Iran, has opposed a deadline and Iran dismissed the idea of having two weeks to reply.
The West accuses Iran of seeking to build nuclear warheads under cover of a civilian power programme. Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, denies the charge.
"We have not had any discussion (or) agreement of the so-called timeline of two weeks," Iran's representative to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told the state Press TV satellite station.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was due to arrive in Tehran Saturday, a few weeks after he said he would respond to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's request and use his good ties with Iran to help resolve its stand-off with the West.
Assad was expected to meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other senior officials during a two-day visit.
In Vienna, Soltanieh criticized US policy after governors of the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, on Friday approved an inspections plan for India, an important step towards completing a nuclear trade accord between New Delhi and Washington.
Unlike India, Iran is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Soltanieh accused the United States of a discriminatory move and of violating the "spirit and letter" of the NPT, while he said Iran faced restrictions and was being "deprived from access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes." Press TV said in a headline: "Iran condemns US double nuclear standards."
The inspection plan will permit regular IAEA surveillance of India's declared civilian nuclear energy plants.
The decision clears a hurdle to an accord that would allow exports of nuclear fuel and technology for civilian use to India after a 34-year ban imposed because India tested atomic bombs and has not signed the NPT. But some smaller Western and developing nations and disarmament groups fear it could weaken allegiance to the NPT.
The United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany in June offered Iran economic and other incentives to coax it into halting uranium enrichment, which can have both civilian and military uses.
The freeze idea is aimed at getting preliminary talks started, although formal negotiations on the incentives package will not start before Iran stops enriching uranium, which Tehran says is solely aimed at providing fuel for power plants.
Iran, whose refusal to halt the work has drawn three rounds of UN sanctions since 2006, has rejected suspension in the past and has given no indication that it is ready for a freeze.
Another report from Brussels adds: Iran has missed an informal Saturday deadline to respond to an offer by major powers on its nuclear programme, a European Union official said, but European diplomats are ready to wait a few more days for an answer.
Major powers asked Iran on July 19 to respond within two weeks to their offer to hold off from imposing more UN sanctions if Tehran froze expansion of its nuclear work. Iran has dismissed the idea of having a deadline to reply.
"There is nothing new (from Iran)," one EU official said Saturday, adding that the bloc did not really expect an answer over the weekend.
"One should not focus on the deadline too much ... what matters is that we get a clear answer quickly, it's not a matter of one day," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the nuclear talks.