Iran on Sunday reiterated its opposition to a West demand for
suspending its uranium enrichment activities, saying such a move is
"absolutely unacceptable".
"The suspension (of uranium enrichment) is absolutely unacceptable
and we have rejected it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali
Hosseini told a press conference.
Hosseini's remarks came after foreign ministers or
representatives from the United States, Britain, France, Germany,
China and Russia gathered in London on Friday for talks on Iran's
nuclear standoff.
After the meeting, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett
issued a statement, saying that participants were "deeply
disappointed" that Iran was not prepared to suspend its
enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, as required by the
IAEA Boardand made mandatory in the UN Security Council Resolution
1696.
Hosseini said that the West demand "has no place in Iran's
peaceful nuclear program", adding "the threat of sanctions is an
inefficient means to achieve a solution."
Iranians "have always regarded the weapon of sanctions as
something rotten and outdated," he said, adding that the Iranian
people "have already been used to such sanctions and
threats".
Hosseini stressed that Iran would not be the lone victim to the
possible sanctions, as the sanction-seeking countries themselves
would also be affected by such measures.
Iran "prefers talks in the framework of international
regulations without any precondition" when it comes to ways to
solve the nuclear standoff and does not want the ones that would
lead to sanctions, Hosseini said.
Enrichment of uranium is at the core of the dispute over Iran's
nuclear program. The process can be used to make nuclear fuel and,
in highly enriched form, the explosive core of an atomic bomb.
Tehran insists its nuclear program is solely for peaceful energy
needs. The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in late July,
urging Tehran to suspend, by Aug. 31, all enrichment-related and
reprocessing activities, including research and development.
(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2006)
