Iranian President Mohammad Khatami warned Wednesday that if a European-drafted resolution is adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran would have no moral obligation to maintain a suspension of uranium enrichment and allow tougher UN inspections.  

"We will not accept a resolution that is illegal and runs counter to our rights," Khatami told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

"If the draft resolution of the three EU powers is passed in its present form, it shows that the Europeans do not fulfill their commitments to us and we will also reconsider our commitments to them," Khatami.

"If so, we will have no more moral commitments to continue the suspension of uranium enrichment, for it is our voluntary measure to show our integrity and does not incur any legal obligations at all," Khatami stressed.

However, Khatami said Iran would not withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty or the Additional Protocol for the time being.

"We will not be diverted from our development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes while we will always be attached to the promise that the technology will not be used for military purposes," Khatami added.

The draft resolution, submitted by France, Germany and Britain on June 8, expressed the compilers' dissatisfaction over Iran's cooperation by terming it as "insufficient and non-transparent."

An Iranian diplomat said on Tuesday that a new paragraph had been added to the draft resolution, which urged closure of Iran's case in next few months.

The IAEA Board of Governors is now at a meeting kicked off on Monday in Vienna, with Iran's nuclear activity high on the agenda.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2004)