A senior Iranian lawmaker warned that his country would limit the
inspections by the UN atomic watch dog to its nuclear sites if Tehran is imposed
sanctions over its nuclear disputes, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported
Sunday.
"There's no doubt that the space for International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) inspectors would be limited if taking such a step (UN sanctions), and
their current opportunities will bedenied," Alaeddin Borujerdi, head of Iran's
parliamentary national security commission, was quoted as saying.
Borujerdi made the remarks while representatives from Britain, France,
Germany, Russia, China and the United States were discussing possible measures
on Iran after it's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment work by Aug. 31.
The high ranking lawmaker also warned the European Union (EU) not to push
Iran's nuclear issue to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions, saying
"they will miss a valuable opportunity if they leave the talks and they will
suffer more losses than Iran by this decision."
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier
Solana had reached an 11-point accord and "negotiations could move forward on
this basis to reach a result satisfying both sides", he added.
However, according to Solana, the talks between Iran and the EU, which have
been staged for four rounds, had failed to reach an agreement. Solana said last
week that talks with Iran had broken down.
In recent days, Iran's top officials, especially President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, have reiterated many times that Iran would not step back on its
legal nuclear rights, warning the West not to imagine that the country would
suspend uranium enrichment for even one day.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in late July, urging Tehran to
suspend by Aug. 31 all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including
research and development, or face prospect of sanctions.
Despite Tehran's failure to meet the UN demand, EU foreign ministers decided
in September to maintain serious talks with Tehran in efforts to solve Iran's
nuclear issue through diplomacy.