VIENNA, Oct 23, Rueters- Iran ignored a U.N. deadline on Friday to respond to an international draft deal for it to cut an atomic stockpile the West fears could be used for weapons, and challenged the basis of the pact.
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| Iranian Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh. |
Iranian officials said they would give an answer only next week to the U.N.-drafted deal, which has been accepted by the other parties -- Russia, France and the United States.
They also said Tehran preferred to acquire enriched uranium abroad rather than send out its own for processing into fuel for nuclear medicine, as Western powers said it tentatively agreed to at Geneva talks on Oct. 1 on ways to defuse growing confrontation over its disputed atomic aspirations.
Their remarks suggested that instead of engaging with the IAEA's draft, Iran was following a well-tested strategy of buying time to blunt Western pressure for harsher international sanctions while it presses on with nuclear research.
The U.N. nuclear agency said it had been told by Iran that it was considering the proposal “in depth and in a favourable light”, but needed until the middle of next week to take a position -- flouting the IAEA's Friday deadline for responses.
It said International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei hoped Iran's reply “will equally be positive, since approval of this agreement will signal a new era of cooperation” after seven years of standoff. |
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