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Iran Press: Tehran Investing in "Traditional Allies" Ahead of IAEA Meeting

Posted on: Monday, 14 November 2005, 12:00 CST

Text of commentary by Azim Rajabpur: "Iran's unalterable principles in nuclear talks", published report by the Iranian newspaper E'temad website on 14 November

Political desk: As the date for the next meeting of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] approaches, the nuclear traffic in Tehran enters a new phase each day. At the moment, Iran is trying to invest in her traditional allies in the Non-Aligned Movement and in Russia and China in order to change the balance of decision making in the board of governors in its own favor. This is especially important as the next meeting of the IAEA board of governors (which is due to meet on 3rd Azar, 24th November) can become a decisive meeting in the fate of Tehran's nuclear crisis.

After the meetings that Iranian officials have held during the past few days with Igor Ivanov, the secretary of Russia's Supreme Security Council, and also with Hamid al-Bar, the Malaysian foreign minister and the current head of the Non-Aligned Movement in the board of governors, Iran has stressed that her right in making use of peaceful nuclear energy must be recognized, and that Iran is not going to give up this right. In his meeting with Cuba's representative in the IAEA, Mahmud Ahmadinezhad also repeated the same point. Felipe Perez Roque, the Cuban foreign minister, who will hold the next rotating chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement in the board of governors, met with the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran yesterday. Thanking him for Cuba's revolutionary stance in supporting Iran's right to make peaceful use of nuclear energy, the president asked him to hold some consultations with the southern (Latin) American countries in order to win their support for Iran's peaceful activities.

Alongside these activities and consultations with the allies, yesterday India Press news agency reported that Iran has decided to put pressure on India due to her anti-Iranian stance in the last meeting of the IAEA board of governors. India Press reported that for the first time since India cast a negative vote against Iran in the IAEA board of governors, Iran has threatened that if India does not correct her stance towards Iran's nuclear activities and if she repeats her negative vote against Tehran in the next meeting of the board of governors, the talks between the two sides over the export of gas would be halted. Although the threat has not been explicit, nevertheless, it seems that this point has been conveyed to the Indian delegation during the meeting of the joint working group of the two countries that was held in Tehran on 24th October.

India Press newspaper [as published] has claimed that it has received a copy of the minutes of the talks in Tehran. It has continued: "Hadi Nezhadhoseynian, Iran's deputy oil minister, in that meeting has said that Iran expected the Indian government to support Iran in the forthcoming meeting of the IAEA board of governors and to make up for her past mistake." Although the Indian government has refrained from commenting on this issue, nevertheless, in the minutes of those talks it has been stated that Iran has connected India's vote in the next meeting of the IAEA board of governors with the issue of the export of Iranian gas to India. Some time ago, Iran also punished South Korea due to her negative vote in the last meeting of the IAEA board of governors, and banned the import of certain items from South Korea to Iran.

Although so far Iran has been subjected to intense pressure by European countries and America to stop her fuel cycle, nevertheless, she has insisted on her stance that her position regarding the nuclear issues that she is facing will never change. The deputy director of the office of Supreme National Security Council in charge of international affairs has also repeated that point. At the same time, he stressed: "Iran's decision and resolve to complete the nuclear fuel cycle is a general principle that will never change." Referring to poisonous Western propaganda against Iran, Javad Va'idi said: "The West and some of her friends in different parts of the world are trying to insinuate that if Iran has nothing to hide, then why does she not allow inspections outside the framework [of the IAEA]. At the same time, they regard any permission for inspection as a form of retreat by Iran."

Regarding the report of the director general of the IAEA [that will be released] during the coming days, the head of the nuclear negotiating team of our country said: "We hope that Muhammad Al- Baradi'i and the Agency's inspectors will adopt a legal and technical stance towards Iran's good cooperation that has been carried out in order to act transparently on the basis of accepted norms."

In addition to Muhammad Al-Baradi'i 's report, these days Iran is also expecting Europe's response to the letter of the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. In that letter Iran has expressed her readiness to return to the negotiating table with Europe on the basis of Iran's recognized right to make peaceful use of nuclear energy. However, only Europe can answer the question whether it will give its answer to Iran before the next meeting of the IAEA board of governors or after Al-Baradi'i 's report and the next meeting of the board of governors. The main point is that Iran must receive a positive response from this nuclear traffic.

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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