Iran unconcerned about Security Council referral

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran on Sunday reiterated plans to
resume uranium conversion this week and said it was unconcerned
about referral of its nuclear case to the U.N. Security Council
for possible sanctions.

“Although we think referral of Iran’s case to the Security
Council would be unlawful and politically motivated, if one day
they refer Iran’s case…we won’t be worried in the least,”
said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi.

Britain, Germany and France, heading nuclear negotiations
with Iran for the European Union, have called an emergency
meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA)
Board of Governors on Tuesday to discuss Iran’s case.

The EU trio say they will recommend referring Iran to the
Security Council if it goes ahead with plans to break U.N.
seals and resume work at the Isfahan uranium conversion plant.

Iran, which on Saturday rejected an EU package of economic
and political incentives designed to persuade it to halt
nuclear fuel work for good, says it will restart the Isfahan
plant as soon as IAEA surveillance equipment is in place.

“The European proposal has no value,” state television
quoted Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi as saying.

“We will insist on our rights and have decided to resume
Isfahan activities as the first step of our measures. This does
not mean we will stop negotiations with Europe,” he added.

ADDITIONAL CAMERAS

Asefi, speaking at a weekly news conference, said IAEA
technicians would be at the Isfahan plant on Monday to install
additional cameras.

He said the 35-page EU proposal, which contained an offer
of help with developing a civilian nuclear program, was
rejected because it did not recognize Iran’s right to enrich
uranium. Iran’s official reply will be delivered to the EU on
Monday.

“I suggest that the Europeans avoid the language of
threat,” Asefi said. “The only way is to encourage Iran and
respect its rights.”

Iran says its nuclear program is solely designed to produce
much-needed electricity and is not, as Washington insists, a
cover for making atomic bombs.

It says that as a signatory of the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty it has the right to produce its own
fuel for nuclear reactors, a process that can also be used to
make bomb-grade material.

Iran’s new president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at his
swearing-in ceremony on Saturday, said Iran would not be
intimidated by threats from the West.

A religious conservative fiercely loyal to the ideals of
the 1979 Islamic revolution, Ahmadinejad is expected to adopt a
tougher position on the two-year-old nuclear negotiations with
the EU, analysts and diplomats say.

(Additional reporting by Amir Paivar)