TEHRAN, 21 September 2004 — President Mohammad Khatami vowed yesterday that Iran would resist “exorbitant demands” amid calls from the UN nuclear watchdog for an immediate halt to sensitive nuclear work. “We will resist the exorbitant demands of the great powers,” Khatami was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.
“What has happened in the past few days on the nuclear dossier is a sign of the moral decadence of the world and the pre-eminence of force and hypocrisy in international relations,” he said.
The Iranian government’s spokesman, Abdollah Ramazanzadeh, also asserted any decision regarding the enrichment of uranium was for Tehran alone to take despite the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution demanding a suspension of enrichment-related activities. “The suspension of enrichment is a voluntary act on our part, and it is us who will decide when we will lift it,” said the spokesman for the Islamic republic’s reformist government in a weekly press briefing.
Iran, which asserts it wants to enrich uranium to produce fuel for reactors and not to make a nuclear bomb, has repeatedly said it reserves the right to resume such activities at any time.
“We will maintain the suspension” of enrichment, spokesman Ramazanzadeh said, but added “there was no international law that could constrain us” if enrichment was resumed. Despite the angry response to the resolution, Iran has signaled it will negotiate.
