 
CHANNELS SPACEWAR WIRE MILITARY SPACE UAV NEWS MILITARY COMMS CYBERWARS MISSILE NEWS RAYGUNS TERRORWARS SPACEDAILY TERRADAILY MARSDAILY SPACE TRAVEL SPACEMART SPACE DATABASE  SERVICES |  
In a clear reference to the United States, Iran blasted the UN nuclear watchdog Saturday for letting "a single country" impose a resolution against Tehran's nuclear program. The IAEA ended a week-long deadlock Saturday by adopting a US-backed resolution condemning Iran for hiding nuclear activities. "A resolution is being imposed, and I think I am using the expression with true definition of the word, on the (International Atomic Energy Agency) board by a single country," senior foreign ministry official Amir Zamaninia told an IAEA meeting in Vienna, according to a copy of his speech made available to reporters. A senior Western diplomat said the compromise text worked out after non-aligned states sought to soften the resolution was "still an important signal for the Iranians to continue and intensify cooperation" with the IAEA> But Zamaninia said the resolution was "a setback, a serious setback" as it portrayed "a rather benign progressive situation as a condition of high alert." He said IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has already reported "the positive trend of active cooperation by Iran and also a process of resolving issues that is gaining pace exponentially". The resolution that was adopted came a day after Iran had put off a UN inspection mission until the end of April in what one diplomat close to the IAEA described as "potentially a large problem in the verification process." But Iranian ambassador Pirooz Hosseini told AFP Saturday that IAEA inspectors could in fact visit Iran earlier than the end of next month. Hosseini said his country had put back the inspection mission, scheduled to start this week, "due to the approach of the Iranian New Year" but that if people were back in their offices soon after the holiday, which starts next week, then IAEA inspectors could come. The IAEA, which verifies the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has since February 2003 been working to determine whether Iran's nuclear program is peaceful, or devoted to secretly developing atomic weapons, as the United States has charged. All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Quick Links
|
|
| The contents herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2002 - SpaceDaily. AFP Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |