. | . |
MP's Aim To Force Iran To Resume Uranium Enrichment
Iranian MPs are Sunday to debate a bill which would force the government to resume uranium enrichment in defiance of the international community, the official news agency IRNA reported. "Ninety-three deputies have signed the bill," said Rafaat Bayat, a conservative MP whose faction controls the 290-seat parliament, quoted by IRNA. It calls for "an immediate halt to the suspension of uranium enrichment as well as to the voluntary implementation of the additional protocol" of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), he said. Iran's pro-reform government agreed in late 2003 to suspend enrichment and signed the additional protocol allowing more intrusive inspections by the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The decisions have been implemented without ratification by parliament, which has since fallen under the control of conservatives after most reformist candidates were banned from running in February elections. Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani, said Monday that Tehran was ready to consider a European request to maintain the enrichment suspension, ahead of renewed talks on the nuclear standoff in Vienna on Wednesday. Three European states last week offered Iran a deal under which Tehran would receive valuable nuclear technology if it indefinitely suspended all uranium enrichment activities, a key stage in the nuclear fuel cycle. The three - Britain, France and Germany - hope that if Iran agrees to the deal it will be possible to stave off US demands for the nuclear issue to be sent before the UN Security Council, which could impose sanctions. The two sides are Wednesday to meet again in the Austrian capital, where the IAEA is based, to hear Tehran's response to their offer. Depending on the level of purification, enriched uranium can be used either as fuel for a civilian reactor or as the explosive core of a nuclear bomb. Iran strongly rejects US accusations it is seeking to manufacture atomic weapons. All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express A Tough Nuclear Neighborhood Washington (UPI) Oct 25, 2004 From the days of Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great who ruled the Persian Empire some 500 years before Christ through the Shah en Shah (king of kings) who lost his throne to revolutionary clerics in 1979, the talons of military supremacy ruled strategic thinking. The shah, not the ayatollahs, decided Iran would be a nuclear power.
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service. |