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Iran gets the message - Iran rebukes IAEA over vote, but no retaliation
With India and others voting against Iran, Iran got some message that it is time to compromise and resolve matters with the West – United states and the Europeans.
Iran on Monday condemned a U.N. nuclear watchdog resolution requiring that Tehran be reported to the Security Council, but stopped short of announcing the retaliatory measures expected by many diplomats. Speaking to the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) annual gathering of its 138 members, Iranian Vice-President Gholamreza Aghazadeh did not say Iran would resume uranium enrichment, which can be used to produce fuel for weapons. "This resolution is based on an invalid legal precept, an unjustified technical ground and a misguided political forecast," Aghazadeh told the IAEA's General Conference. The IAEA board of governors on Saturday passed the resolution based on Iran's failure to persuade the international community that its nuclear programme was entirely peaceful. Washington accuses Tehran of developing nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear programme which Tehran insists is solely aimed at generating electricity. Diplomats in Vienna had expected a more vehement reaction by Aghazadeh, who is also the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, to the resolution passed by majority vote. On Friday, the Iranian delegation showed some IAEA board members two letters saying Iran would begin enriching uranium, a process of making fuel for nuclear power plants or weapons, and end short-notice inspections under the IAEA's Additional Protocol if the resolution was passed. "After the vote, I had expected Iran to immediately announce that it would retaliate in some way, perhaps by enriching uranium and ending Additional Protocol inspections. But this didn''''t happen. We expect something soon," an EU diplomat said. The Additional Protocol provides for snap inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities. Iran has signed the protocol but not ratified it. Aghazadeh did caution, however, that sending the issue to the U.N. Security Council, which can impose sanctions, would aggravate an already tense political situation. "There is no doubt that a report to the Security Council initiates a chain of actions and reactions that breed tension and add volatility to an already vulnerable political situation in the region," he said. The IAEA board resolution requires that Iran be referred to the Security Council at an unspecified date. EU diplomats said they expected the board would decide to send its report on Iran's nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty breaches to the U.N. Security Council during the agency's next board meeting in November.
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