Iran calls for return of nuclear issue to IAEA
(Xinhua) -- Iran on Saturday called for a return of the country's nuclear issue from the UN Security Council to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), one day after the agency's chief circulated his latest report on Iran's nuclear program.
What was said in the report once more indicated that "referring of Iran to the UN Security Council was a political move which lacked legal basis," the official IRNA news agency quoted government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham as saying.
He reiterated that Tehran believed "the only legitimate and official center to study Iran nuclear issue is the IAEA which has now verified the peaceful nature of Iran nuclear activities."
Elham made the remarks one day after IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei circulated his latest report on Iran's nuclear program to the IAEA Board of Governors.
In response to the IAEA report, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that his country will not retreat "one iota" in maintaining its nuclear rights.
In his live interview with state television late on Saturday, Ahmadinejad vowed that "we've said that our red line is the nuclear rights of the Iranian nation and we will not retreat one iota."
Posted by: Fred 2008-02-24 |