Iran speaker warns West on nuclear cooperation
29.11.2009 16:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iran’s parliament could move to reduce Tehran’s
cooperation level with the U.N. nuclear agency watchdog if the West
continues to pressure the Islamic state over its nuclear program,
speaker Ali Larijani said on Sunday.

The warning came two days after the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) voted to rebuke Iran for building a uranium enrichment plant in
secret.

The Islamic Republic has already denounced Friday’s IAEA resolution,
which won rare backing from China and Russia, as "intimidation" which
would poison its talks with world powers.

"If the West continues to pressure us, then parliament can review
Iran’s cooperation level with the IAEA," Larijani, an influential
conservative, told the assembly.

Parliament has the power to oblige the government to change its
cooperation with the IAEA, as it did in 2006 after the Vienna-based
agency voted to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council.

Friday’s resolution by the 35-nation IAEA board was a sign of
spreading alarm over Tehran’s failure to dispel fears it has
clandestine plans to build nuclear bombs, a charge Iran denies. It
urged Iran to clarify the original purpose of the recently-disclosed
Fordow enrichment site, hidden inside a mountain bunker, stop
construction and confirm there are no more hidden sites. But it was
far from clear whether the West could now coax Moscow and Beijing to
join in tough sanctions against Iran, something they have long
prevented at the U.N. Security Council.

Iran says its atomic energy program is purely for peaceful purposes,
aimed at generating electricity, Reuters reported.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress