P5+1 move targeted Iran nuclear feat

An influential Iranian politician says the new IAEA resolution condemning Iran for building a second enrichment facility was adopted ‘out of sheer spite’.

“This resolution targets the entire panoply of Iran’s feats and accomplishments in nuclear research and technology,” said the head of Iran’s Expediency Council, Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani late Sunday.

“The country’s remarkable progress in nuclear technology has been achieved through the hard work of Iranian scientists,” he added. “This kind of behavior towards Iranians should be countered through an active diplomacy on the international scale.”

Hashemi-Rafsanjani who was speaking to a group of academics said he is deeply disappointed with what he called ‘this purely spiteful move’.

In order to keep the heat on Iran and force the country to accept a Western-backed offer on nuclear fuel supply, world powers drafted a German-sponsored resolution at the UN nuclear watchdog, demanding that Iran stops construction of its Fordo nuclear facility outside Tehran.

Floated by the Obama administration, the aforesaid fuel draft deal requires Iran to send abroad most of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) to be further processed and then returned to the country for use in the Tehran research reactor.

Iranian officials rejected the UN proposal, saying there are no guarantees that the country would in fact receive the fuel it requires, but later agreed to consider the offer if the nuclear swap takes place within the country’s borders.

The adoption of the IAEA resolution against Iran’s nuclear activities, which is backed by the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China, is likely to mark a step change in the nature of Iran’s relations with the UN nuclear watchdog.

On Sunday, Iran’s Parliament (Majlis) warned world powers that if they keep up their negative approach, Tehran will be forced to limit its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“If you keep up this ludicrous carrot and stick policy, Iran will make ‘new arrangements’ in its interaction with the Agency,” Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said in a parliamentary address on Sunday.

“The resolution passed by the Board of Governors shows that we must be more alert when considering their proposals. This motion shows that they had no intention whatsoever to negotiate a solution but were engaged in ‘political chicanery’,” he added.