European states have called for further sanctions on Iran in the wake of a UN report that Tehran had worked on developing nuclear weapons, but Iran denounced the report as fabricated and said it would not compromise on its nuclear program.
France took the lead in ratcheting up pressure, calling for a meeting of the security council; the foreign minister, Alain Juppé, said sanctions against Tehran should be raised to an “unprecedented scale” if Iran fails to co-operate with the International Atomic Energy Agency investigations into past work on designing a nuclear warhead .
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attacked the credibility of the IAEA. “Why are you ruining the prestige of the agency for absurd US claims?” he asked, in a speech to a crowd of several thousand people in the central city of Shahr-e-Kord in central Iran.
Iran has always rejected allegations it had a nuclear weapons program, insisting that the aims behind its uranium enrichment efforts and extensive atomic research work have been entirely peaceful, and within Iran‘s rights. “This nation won’t retreat one iota from the path it is going,” Ahmadinejad said.
Moscow and Beijing have both said they would study the IAEA report before issuing a definitive judgment, but both had argued strenuously against publication of intelligence on suspected weapons projects.
Moscow has since warned that the publication could hurt the chances of renewed talks on the issue and questioned whether the UN agency was “whipping up emotions”.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, criticised both Iran and the IAEA, calling on Tehran be “serious and flexible” and to co-operate with inspections while adding pointedly that the UN agency should be “objective”.
(아주경제 앤드류 이 기자)
France took the lead in ratcheting up pressure, calling for a meeting of the security council; the foreign minister, Alain Juppé, said sanctions against Tehran should be raised to an “unprecedented scale” if Iran fails to co-operate with the International Atomic Energy Agency investigations into past work on designing a nuclear warhead .
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attacked the credibility of the IAEA. “Why are you ruining the prestige of the agency for absurd US claims?” he asked, in a speech to a crowd of several thousand people in the central city of Shahr-e-Kord in central Iran.
Iran has always rejected allegations it had a nuclear weapons program, insisting that the aims behind its uranium enrichment efforts and extensive atomic research work have been entirely peaceful, and within Iran‘s rights. “This nation won’t retreat one iota from the path it is going,” Ahmadinejad said.
Moscow and Beijing have both said they would study the IAEA report before issuing a definitive judgment, but both had argued strenuously against publication of intelligence on suspected weapons projects.
Moscow has since warned that the publication could hurt the chances of renewed talks on the issue and questioned whether the UN agency was “whipping up emotions”.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, criticised both Iran and the IAEA, calling on Tehran be “serious and flexible” and to co-operate with inspections while adding pointedly that the UN agency should be “objective”.
(아주경제 앤드류 이 기자)
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