Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said on Sunday
that his country decided to limit its cooperation with the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after the UN Security
Council imposed new sanctions against the Islamic Republic's
nuclear program.
The Iranian government made the decision "after an illegal
resolution (UN Security Council Resolution 1747) was passed against
Iran last night," Elham said on state television.
He said the measure would have impact on the subsidiary
arrangements of the safeguards within Iran's cooperation with the
UN nuclear watchdog agency IAEA.
The spokesman explained that Iran had accepted these
arrangements in 2002 and thereby it had "promptly informed" the
IAEA of any decision to build new nuclear facilities.
By limiting its cooperation with the IAEA on these agreements,
Iran would no longer inform the IAEA of new installations until six
months before they are brought into service, Elham said.
Iran would only reconsider the decision if its nuclear case was
returned to the IAEA from the UN Security Council, he said.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted on Saturday
Resolution 1747, which was cosponsored by Britain, France and
Germany and incorporating some of the amendments proposed by
Indonesia, Qatar and South Africa, urging Iran to suspend uranium
enrichment work "without further delay."
The resolution, moderately harsher than those included in
previous resolutions on the Iranian nuclear issue, calls for a ban
of Iranian arms exports, a freeze of assets of an additional 28
individuals and entities involved in Iran's nuclear and missile
programs.
It also calls for voluntary restrictions on travel by the
individuals subject to sanctions, on arms sales to Iran, and on new
financial assistance or loans to the Iranian government.
It asks the IAEA to report back in 60 days on whether Iran has
suspended enrichment work.
UK sailors' fate unclear
British officials do not know where Iran is holding 15 sailors
and marines captured in the Persian Gulf, and requests for access
to them have been denied, the British Foreign Office said Sunday as
Teheran again protested what it called their illegal entry into
Iranian waters.
The British ambassador to Iran met with senior officials at the
Iranian Foreign Ministry and demanded the immediate release of the
captured personnel, the Foreign Office said.
?
Iranian State TV said the ministry summoned Ambassador Geoffrey
Adams "to protest the illegal entry of British sailors into Iranian
territorial waters." It gave no details about the meeting.
Iran's top military official, General Ali Reza Afshar, said on
Saturday the seized Britons were taken to Teheran for questioning
and had confessed to what he called an "aggression into the Islamic
Republic of Iran's waters." He did not say what would happen to
them but said all were being treated well and were in good
health.
The Foreign Office said Sunday that British requests for access
to the 15 Britons have been denied.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair described Iran's seizing
British naval personnel in Iraqi waters as "unjustified and wrong,"
according to Sky News reports on Sunday.
In a news conference at the European Union summit in Berlin,
Blair said "this is a very serious situation and there is no doubt
at all that these people were taken from a boat in Iraqi
waters."
"I hope the Iranian government understands how fundamental an
issue this is for us," he said.
Teheran has described the incident as a "blatant aggression" but
Britain has repeatedly insisted the sailors were in Iraqi waters in
the Shatt al Arab waterway between Iraq and Iran.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily via agencies March 26,
2007)
