TEHRAN, 17 March 2007 — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad refused again yesterday to stop sensitive nuclear work and prepared to confront the UN Security Council face to face over a proposal for wider sanctions against Iran. “The Iranian nation possesses the nuclear fuel cycle and will not go back on that,” he told a rally in central Yazd province, cited by the semi-official Fars news agency.
“Don’t think you can block the Iranian nation’s pathway with these sittings and meetings,” Ahmadinejad told world powers, which fear Iran’s nuclear program could be diverted toward weapons development. “The Iranian nation is moving speedily on the path to progress, and the enemies’ pressures and threats do not affect the nation’s will,” state new agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
On Thursday, six major world powers agreed on a package of new UN sanctions against Iran for its repeated refusal to suspend uranium enrichment — a process that can be used to make nuclear fuel as well as atomic weapons.
Their ambassadors reached a deal on a new sanctions resolution that was submitted to the Security Council’s 10 non-permanent members ahead of a vote expected next week.
That set the stage for a dramatic confrontation with Ahmadinejad, who has formally asked to attend the council meeting, even though on Thursday he said the world body was illegitimate. “Should the American government issue a visa, I will definitely participate in the Security Council meeting and defend Iran’s nuclear rights,” Ahmadinejad told Fars yesterday.
“I don’t regard a probable consensus among the 5+1 as an obstacle to my trip and I insist on my presence at the Security Council,’ he said. As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran says it has a right to uranium enrichment, insisting its nuclear program is aimed at peaceful energy ends.
Under the provisions of the UN Charter, a country that is not a member of the council is entitled to attend council deliberations that directly concern it and to speak, but without the right to vote. The compromise text appeared after 10 days of negotiations by the council’s five veto-wielding permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany.
The agreement virtually ensures that measures to broaden existing sanctions and impose some new ones will be approved by the 15-member council when the draft is put to a vote.
“It’s a good, balanced, incremental step,” acting US Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said. In Washington, the White House said US President George W. Bush hoped for a vote soon.
The draft builds on sanctions imposed by the Security Council in December after Tehran ignored repeated UN demands to freeze uranium enrichment. Those measures included a ban on the sale of nuclear and ballistic missile-related materials to the Islamic republic and a freeze on financial assets of Iranians involved in atomic and ballistic missile work.
The Iranian military has developed a new air defense system with a boosted ability to hit targets by firing two missiles simultaneously, state radio said yesterday. “This new air defense system which can shoot one or two missiles simultaneously ... has been designed by army ground forces and tested successfully,” the radio said. “It has high mobility and flexibility, and can pursue aerial targets in any climate. Simultaneous firing increases the chances of defense missiles hitting” their targets, it added.
