Iran Delivers Rebuke to Nuclear Watchdog

Mar 26, 08:39 PM

Current Headlines: By Nasser Karimi

Iran announced Sunday that it was partially suspending cooperation with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog while hard- line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the latest U.N. sanctions would not halt the country's uranium enrichment "even for a second."

Iranian state television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying the additional Security Council sanctions imposed Saturday "stem from the hostility by some powers against Iran."

"It is not a new issue for the Iranian nation. Enemies of the Iranian nation have made a mistake this time, too," Ahmadinejad said, adding the new sanctions "will not halt Iran's peaceful nuclear program even for a second."

Meanwhile, government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said the Cabinet on Sunday decided to suspend "code 1-3 of minor arrangements of the safeguards" with the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The suspension would "continue until Iran's nuclear case is referred back to the IAEA from the U.N Security Council," Elham said.

Tehran's scaling back of cooperation with the IAEA was in apparent retaliation for the sanctions unanimously approved by the Security Council over Tehran's refusal to stop enriching uranium, a process that can be used in the production of nuclear power or nuclear weapons.

The West strongly suspects Iran's nuclear activities are aimed at producing weapons. Tehran says they are exclusively for the production of energy.

The U.N. sanctions are meant to send Tehran a strong message that its defiance will leave it increasingly isolated and open to even tougher penalties.

But Iran remains defiant. The suspension was a response to "Saturday night's illegal and bullying resolution by Security Council," said Elham, adding the government was acting fully within law in the move.

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