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Soltanieh: Non-nuclear states should not be blamed for ongoing concerns
May 6, 2008
Iran's IAEA
envoy Ali-Asghar Soltanieh on Monday warned against efforts to blame
non-nuclear states for ongoing proliferation concerns.
"A few countries have attempted to wrongly induce that proliferation
concerns merely arise from non-nuclear weapon states.
Furthermore, through a false and misleading propaganda, they similarly try
to describe nuclear energy as the synonym of nuclear weapons. This is
while all nuclear activities of the NNWSs parties to the NPT are under
the full-scope safeguards of the IAEA and they have already forgone
nuclear option and thus pose no threat to the others," said Soltanieh.
Addressing the NPT Review Conference and its Preparatory Committees in
Geneva on Monday, Soltanieh said the NPT Review Conference and its
Preparatory Committees cannot easily overlook that certain NWSs, in
contravention to their legal undertakings, promote the role and status
of nuclear weapons in their defense and security doctrines and spread
these weapons to the others.
Soltanieh said non-compliance of Article I by the said NWSs and lack of
any guarantee for verification of obligations of such violators have
created serious challenges towards principles and purposes of the
Treaty.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is of the view that during preparatory
Committees and the next Review Conference, State Parties have to deal
with the issue of non-compliance of certain nuclear weapon states which
is a serious threat to the international security, as the first
priority."
Soltanieh then highlighted the Agency's efforts to improve the
efficiency of the Safeguard system.
"During the last decade many decisions have been taken by the Agency to
improve the efficiency of the safeguard system. These measures including
inter-alia conclusion of the subsidiary arrangements, additional
protocol have considerably increased the legal authority of the Agency
to carry out its responsibilities but the lack of full confidence in
efficiency of safeguards still exist." He said the root causes of
non-confidence in efficiency of the safeguards are as follows: a. Lack
of balance between rights and obligation; b. Lack of balance between
obligations of nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states; c.
Discriminatory and double standard policies and approach; d. Engagement
of the Safeguards in activities beyond statutory legal obligations under
the pretext of completeness and correctness, or politically motivated
decisions of Board of Governors, has created serious concerns for the
majority of Member States; and e. Non-adherence of the only non-party in
the Middle East namely the Zionist regime which has acknowledged the
possession of nuclear weapons, with nuclear weapon activities and
facilities being outside of any international surveillance including the
Agency's Comprehensive Safeguards.
He also announced that the status quo cannot be sustained and no
additional measure in strengthening safeguards can be accepted by
non-nuclear weapon states parties unless these serious constraints and
discriminations are removed.
Soltanieh said, "In the course of the meeting unfortunately few western
delegations especially of US, UK, Australia, Japan and France had tried
to poison the cooperative environment by repeating obsolete and boring
baseless allegations against my country.
"They did further damage their credibility by not even reflecting the
latest progress reports of the Agency's Director General to the effect
that after the most robust verification process the IAEA has concluded
that all Iran's declarations are consistent with the Agency's findings.
The Director General has continuously reported that there is no evidence
of diversion of nuclear material and activities to prohibited purposes.
I did present comprehensive information including facts and figures on
the exclusively peaceful nuclear program of my country, based on
Agency's document to NGOs, representatives of civil society, which I
trust shall to great extend disclose and reflect the facts, which their
governments have covered up from their nations.
"It seems that these few countries have hidden agenda to damage the NPT by
creating confrontation atmosphere among members of the club while
totally ignoring the non-parties violations and even awarding them for
the rejection of the NPT!" announced the Iranian envoy."
IRNA
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McCain dismisses Obama as having no national security experience
May 6, 2008
Republican John McCain dismissed Democratic
rival Barack Obama as having zero national security experience.
McCain said in North Carolina on Monday there are stark differences
between him and the two Democratic candidates, Obama and Hillary Rodham
Clinton. But he concentrated on Obama in particular.
"Senator Obama wants to sit down with an Iranian leader who is dedicated
to wiping Israel off the map - his words," McCain told reporters on his
campaign bus.
"I don't think we should give him that kind of prestige. Senator Obama
obviously has no national security experience, and therefore that's
reflected in his judgment on a number of those issues." Obama spokesman
Tommy Vietor responded by criticizing McCain's support for the war in
Iraq.
"John McCain has the experience of being Washington's biggest supporter of
a disastrous war in Iraq," the spokesman said.
IRNA
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Ghanimi-Fard: No official conditions has come from India on gas deal
May 6, 2008
Head of Iranian Negotiating Team for Peace
Pipeline Deal Hojjatollah Ghanimi-Fard said on Monday that Iran has not
yet received any new official or written conditions for the deal from
India.
Asked about the unofficial news on India's request for removing the part
of reviewing gas price in the deal, he said that all international
agreements are founded on standard conditions, noting that Indian
friends should not expect Iran to agree something far from the
conditions.
Ghanimi-Fard also told reporters that the gas pipeline deal will be
binding, if senior officials of the three countries of Iran, Pakistan
and India affirm it.
From the beginning, all agreements should be endorsed by relevant
officials of the gas deal, he said, adding that any review or revision
of an agreement by officials of the three countries has not been
connsidered as abandonment of former ones.
Ghanimi-Fard, who is also manager of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC),
pointed to a 45-day deadline by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for
finalizing the gas deal, expressing hope that Iran, Pakistan and India
are interested in finalizing the deal sooner.
IRNA
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Iran
sympathizes with Burmese people over human tragedy
May 6, 2008
Iran on Tuesday offered sympathy to victims of
human tragedy in Myanmar.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Hosseini expressed condolences to the
Burmese people on human tragedy caused by devastating cyclone in the
country which left over 10,000 dead.
Hosseini offered his heartfelt sympathy of Iranian nation and government
to the cyclone-stricken people, the families of victims and the Burmese
nation and government.
Rangoon TV said on Tuesday morning broadcast that the death toll and those
missing in Myanmar cyclone which struck the Asian country on Friday and
Saturday exceeded 15,000.
IRNA
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'More nations could follow Iran, N Korea's nuclear ambitions'
May 6, 2008
PRAGUE: NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer has warned that more nations may follow the examples of Iran
and North Korea and work to develop nuclear weapons.
He said Monday that the possibility that Syria could be building a
weapons-capable nuclear reactor showed that NATO must find an answer to
ballistic missile threats.
``The nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea threaten to set in motion
a domino effect that will be difficult to contain,'' de Hoop Scheffer
said in a speech at a missile defense conference at the Czech Foreign
Ministry.
``If there is a serious suspicion that in Syria there was a facility in
the making, it only increases the arguments...for finding a collective
answer to a ballistic missile defense threat,'' the NATO chief said.
CIA Director Michael Hayden said last month the alleged Syrian nuclear
reactor destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in September would have
produced enough plutonium for one or two bombs within a year of becoming
operational.
``The number of states that possess the ballistic missiles is already
growing. Slowly and surely,'' de Hoop Scheffer said.
``The proliferation of ballistic missiles is a reality that concerns us
all.''
The Czech Republic is expected to sign a treaty next month allowing the
U.S. to build an anti-missile base on Czech territory.
The proposed US missile defense system calls for tracking radar in the
Czech Republic and 10 interceptors missiles in Poland. The US has yet to
reach an agreement with Poland.
US officials say the system will protect against possible attacks from the
states like Iran.
NATO leaders agreed to endorse the US plan last month at a summit in
Bucharest, Romania, despite Russia's objections.
NATO is ``ready to explore a potential linking of United States, NATO and
Russian missile defense systems,'' de Hoop Scheffer said. ``Sooner or
later, Moscow will realize that Russia, too, is not immune to the
consequences of proliferation. Once it happens and I hope that it won't
take long Russia will consider NATO's offer.''
De Hoop Scheffer said the signing of a deal between the U.S. and the Czech
Republic ``will be a major step forward...in the process of building a
missile defense architecture in Europe ... (and) also a major
development for NATO.''
AGENCIES
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Iran
suspends US talks on Iraq
May 6, 2008
Iran has dismissed any prospect of new talks
with the United States on Iraq, accusing US-led forces of a "massacre"
of the Iraqi people.
"Right now, what we observe in Iraq is a massacre of the Iraqi nation by
the occupying forces," Mohammad Ali Hosseini, a foreign ministry
spokesman, told a news conference on Monday.
"Concerning this situation, talks with America will have no results and
will be meaningless."
Washington and Tehran held three rounds of ground-breaking discussions in
Baghdad last year, easing a diplomatic freeze of almost three decades,
but Iraqi officials have expressed frustration that a fourth round has
failed to get off the ground.
Iraq says it does not want its soil to become a battleground for a proxy
war between the US and Iran, which are also at loggerheads over Iran's
disputed nuclear programme.
Hosseini did not elaborate, but US forces have for several weeks been
fighting daily battles in Baghdad with militiamen loyal to Muqtada
al-Sadr, the Shia leader who has demanded foreign forces leave Iraq.
In Washington, Tom Casey, a state department spokesman, criticised Iran
for its latest statements and reiterated US accusations of Iranian
meddling in its neighbour's affairs.
"It is meaningless to have talks on anything with Iran as long as they
don't change their behaviour. That said, we have continued to be willing
and ready, and are willing and ready, to have additional discussions
with the Iranians through this tripartite channel," Casey told
reporters.
Violence
The war of words comes amid more fighting between US troops and Shia
fighters in Sadr city left at least 10 people dead, including two
children.
The fighting was part of a five-week-old crackdown by the Iraqi government
and US military on Shia fighters in Baghdad whom US officials say are
trained in camps run by the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah, inside Iran.
The US military said last week "very, very significant" amounts of Iranian
arms had been found in Basra and Baghdad during an offensive against
fighters loyal to al-Sadr.
Separately on Monday, the US military blamed al-Qaeda fighters for killing
10 Iraqi soldiers in Diyala province north of Baghdad.
According to unconfirmed reports from the Iraqi army the bodies of those
shot were then decapitated.
AGENCIES
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