TEHRAN, 10 September 2005 — Iran’s ex-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani warned Western countries yesterday not to make “unjust” nuclear decisions against Iran ahead of a UN nuclear watchdog meeting later this month. “If (the West) shows its rigidity by making unjust decisions and putting their threats into practice, the Iranian people will not be the only ones to pay the price,” Rafsanjani said during Friday prayers broadcast on state radio.
“Those who have participated in such a decision will also pay the price,” said the prominent ayatollah who heads Iran’s top arbitration body, the Expediency Council. “We will go all the way to defend our legitimate rights and our national honor,” Rafsanjani vowed. The International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors is to meet in Vienna on Sept. 19 to discuss whether to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions.
Iran’s top nuclear negotiator said Thursday that any nuclear negotiations outside the framework of the IAEA would be irrelevant, ISNA news agency reported Thursday. “Everything in the nuclear case should be its own proper place and thereafter our main counterpart in this regard can only be the IAEA,” Ali Larijani said.
Larijani has several times stressed that Iran would no longer be interested in just talking to the European Union trio of Britain, France and Germany over the nuclear dispute, and seeking alternatives such as Russia, China, India and Pakistan.
“This, however, does not mean that we would resume the same negotiation process (like with the EU trio) with other countries, as the only venue authorized the deal with the issue is and will be the IAEA,” he added after returning from a visit to Pakistan.
