The first meeting of the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties
to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)
drifted closer to collapse on Monday as Iran withheld its reply to
a proposal aimed at getting it to comply with nuclear rules.
According to local media, Iran was considering whether to accept
a compromise statement proposed last Friday by South Africa
designed to ease Iran's fears of being the target of criticism from
fellow NPT members.
But the Iranian delegation at the conference said that it had
not yet received instructions from Teheran. It was expecting an
answer on Tuesday.
The meeting, which began on April 30 and was scheduled to end on
Friday, was meant to set priorities to be fleshed out at follow-up
meetings leading to the next full-scale NPT Review Conference in
2010.
Iran's delay in giving an answer on whether it would accept a
compromise on complying with nuclear rules pushed the conference
onto the verge of collapse as the conference agenda requires a
consensus.
"If we do not decide on agenda by Tuesday morning we will have
difficulty undertaking discussion on the substantive issues in a
balanced manner," the conference's chairman Yukiya Amano
warned.
Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh said last Wednesday that the
obligation for Iran to implement the NPT was "a subject proposed by
the United States."
He said Iran believed that "restricting the sessions of the
conference to such a subject is irrational", adding that "other
options such as nuclear disarmament and a Middle East free from
nuclear weapons should also be included in the relevant
agenda."
Some diplomats at the meeting suggested that Iran aimed to shift
the attention of the conference to the course of international
nuclear disarmament, and avoid a focus on its own nuclear
program.
The diplomats believed that if Iran could not accept compromises on
"agenda issues", the first preliminary committee meetings might be
over ahead of schedule.
Delegates from 130 member countries, including China, and
non-governmental organizations attended the meeting to present
their principles and positions on nuclear disarmament, nuclear
nonproliferation, and the peaceful use of nuclear power.
The second preliminary committee meeting will be held in April
next year in Geneva.
(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2007)
