Tehran, May 19: Iran voiced exasperation Wednesday at US-led international rejection of a hard-won nuclear fuel deal, saying major powers would be “discrediting” themselves if they pressed for fresh UN sanctions.
Washington on Tuesday announced that it would submit a resolution at the UN Security Council for a fourth round of sanctions, a day after the Brazilian and Turkish leaders forged a compromise agreement they hailed as a step towards a resolution of Iran’s years-old standoff.
Under the deal, Iran agreed to ship out much of its stockpile of low enriched uranium to Turkey in exchange for fuel for a research reactor.
“(Talk of) imposing sanctions has faded and this resolution is the last effort by the West,” the Fars news agency quoted Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who also heads Iran’s atomic energy organisation, as saying.
“They feel that for the first time in the world developing countries are able to defend their rights in the world arena without resorting to the major powers, and that is very hard for them,” Salehi said after a meeting of government ministers.
The new draft resolution before the Security Council would expand an arms embargo and measures against Iran’s banking sector, as well as banning it from sensitive overseas activities, like uranium mining and developing ballistic missiles, a US official said.
The draft has the blessing of all five of the veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, including the usual standouts China and Russia, the US said.
But the Iranian atomic energy chief expressed doubts about the emerging international consensus against his country.
“We should be patient because they won’t prevail and by pursuing the passing of a new resolution they are discrediting themselves in public opinion,” Salehi said.
“I think there are some rational people among them who will stop them from making this irrational move.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki expressed similar scepticism about the chances of a new sanctions resolution being passed by the Security Council.
“There is no chance the resolution is going to be passed,” he told state-run Al-Alam television from the Tajik capital Dushanbe.
“We do not take these movements seriously, since the nations who are seeking to impose sanctions are in the minority.”
A senior adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said any move for punitive new measures at the United Nations would carry no legitimacy.
“The talk of imposing sanctions on Iran is illegal,” Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi said. “We should wait until they come up with a reasonable approach to Iran’s agreement.”
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim insisted the new agreement “creates an opportunity for a peaceful negotiated settlement.”
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the world community to support the deal, which his foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, warned could be spoiled by talk of sanctions.
—Agencies