TEHRAN, 22 September 2003 — Iran reserves the right to respond to an ultimatum from the UN’s nuclear watchdog “before or after” an Oct. 31 deadline for Tehran to come clean on its atomic program, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
“We still have time before the 31st of October. We will respond when it will be necessary, before or after the 31st of October,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters here.
“The resolution is being examined by the concerned officials and this examination is not yet finished,” he said.
“When it is complete, we will say so and give our response to the agency, and we will give our clear and definitive position,” he said, adding that formulating a response to the agency was “complex and very delicate”.
A week ago, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gave Iran until the end of October to clear up widespread suspicions that it is using an atomic energy program as a cover for nuclear weapons development.
The resolution, passed by the IAEA’s board of governors after intensive US lobbying, demands Iran answer all the agency’s questions regarding its enrichment activities, provide unrestricted access to UN inspectors and a detailed list of its nuclear-related imports.
Iran fiercely denies it is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, but its failure to comply could lead to Iran being declared in non-compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), with the matter being passed to the UN Security Council.
But despite a string of top officials here already blasting the ultimatum and with little sign that increased IAEA inspections will be allowed, Asefi said it was too early to talk of Iran’s increased isolation or the prospect of sanctions.
“But what I can say, generally, is that the Islamic Republic of Iran is sufficiently powerful to continue on its path by drawing on its own capacities,” he said.
But he also asserted his belief that the issue had not come to an impasse, and emphasized that the Foreign Ministry had yet to call for Iran to pull out of the NPT.
A number of hard-liners here have already urged Iran’s leaders to follow or consider following the path of North Korea, which pulled out of the treaty. Asefi also confirmed Iran had received a letter from Britain, France and Germany aimed at resolving the stalemate over inspections.
But he dismissed media reports suggesting that the European trio had offered a deal to Tehran in exchange for a “confidence building gesture” from Iran.
Asefi refused to divulge the content of the letter — sent before the IAEA resolution was passed on Sept. 12 — but said that the European and US position vis-a-vis Iran appeared to be “identical”.
“We were expecting the Europeans to be independent and take the realities into account,” he complained.
Meanwhile, Iran kicks off “Sacred Defense Week” today, with a timely show of national unity and military might to mark the outbreak of its 1980-88 war against Iraq.
The week will see a drive-by of ballistic missiles, tanks and troops today, followed by a series of events including photo exhibitions, film screenings and recitations of poetry.
The week is dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of Iranians killed after the forces of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded in 1980.
State television has already begun drumming up memories of the bloody conflict by the intermittent carrying of historical footage from the trenches. For the military parade, the hard-line Kayhan newspaper declared yesterday that the new Shahab-3 missile — only recently handed over for operation to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards — would be also put on show.
With a range of some 1,500 kilometers, the missile has already set alarm bells ringing in Israel.
Supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who wields absolute power in the country, has also declared that Iran’s “armed forces are dynamic and capable, and by relying on people’s affections, will resolutely carry out their tough responsibilities.”
“The enemies of humanity,” he was quoted as telling members of the armed forces Saturday, “are now using malicious propaganda to say that the Iranian people are seeking to acquire the atomic bomb in order to present the Islamic republic as a threat to regional and world peace.”
