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UN resolution on Iran's nuclear program "nocredit": Tehran
2/8/2006 10:07

Iranian Majlis (parliament) Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel said Tuesday that a UN Security Council resolution urging Iran to stop uranium enrichment by Aug. 31 has "no credit".

"Such resolutions have no credit," Haddad-Adel was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

The speaker noted, "It is ridiculous the (UN) Security Council feels danger over Iran's civilian nuclear program and issued a statement against Iran under circumstances that the UN just expressed its regret over the Zionist regime's crimes in Qana."

He was referring to a recent Israeli aid raid on southern Lebanese village of Qana which killed some 54 civilians, mostly children and women.

The UN Security Council on Monday adopted the resolution by a vote of 14 to 1. Qatar, the only Arab nation in the Security Council, cast the only negative vote.

The resolution, adopted after weeks of negotiation, demands Iran "suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development."

On the insistence of Council members such as Russia and China, the resolution dropped the threat of immediate sanctions, and requires the Council to hold further discussions before it considers sanctions.

Earlier, Iranian parliament's foreign affairs commission spokesman Kazem Jalali said that the UN Security Council resolution was "unacceptable".

"The Security Council resolution is unacceptable and is shifting the climate down a path which will help no one," Jalali said.

Explaining Iran's position on the nuclear issue, Iranian ambassador to the UN Javad Zarif said that Iran were not seeking confrontation and had showed its readiness to engage in serious and result-oriented negotiation based on mutual respect and equal footing.

"Iran's peaceful nuclear program poses no threat to international peace and security and therefore dealing with this issue in the Security Council is unwarranted and void of any legalbasis or practical utility," he said.

Iran has promised to give an official response by Aug. 22 to a six-nation proposal which demands Iran suspend enrichment in return for economic incentives.



Xinhua News