Iran Must Be Accepted In ‘Peaceful’ Nuclear Club

“The international community has to accept Iran in the world nuclear club,” Hassan Rawhani, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Speaking on the eve of a meeting by the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rawhani said the Islamic republic would seek to convince the U.N. nuclear watchdog to finish a 13 -month probe of its nuclear program.

“We must arrive at a stage where the [IAEA] board of governors totally close the file on Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities and take this off the agenda,” he said.

Rawhani, who has headed Iran’s nuclear negotiations, also asserted that Iran “has the inalienable right to master its own enrichment cycle”.

The IAEA board of governors will tackle a progress report on Iran’s cooperation with the Vienna-based body.

‘U.S. Plot’

The high-ranking official said that during the meeting, there was just a “tiny risk” that Iran could be referred for possible sanctions from the U.N. Security Council — a consistent demand by the United States — amid continued criticism that the country is failing to live up to its “pledge of greater transparency”.

“So far we have succeeded in foiling the U.S. plot, and do not think the U.S. is in a position to send our dossier to the Security Council,” Rawhani added.

He attributed Iran’s ability to avoid serious sanction by signing up to tougher inspections to what he said had been a “national consensus”. He said this had to continue if Iran was to see its file closed in Vienna.

He was referring to Tehran’s agreement late last year to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Additional Protocol allowing inspectors to carry out more intrusive, snap checks of its nuclear facilities.

Reuters news agency quoted diplomats on the IAEA’s35 -nation board as saying that they were working a draft IAEA resolution on Iran circulated by the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

According to Reuters, they said it would require some fine-tuning but was something that could eventually by approved by the entire board.

The United States accuses Iran of running a secret nuclear program in violation of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), while in the meantime turn a blind eye to Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal.

IAEA chief Mohammad ElBaradei asked Israel to give up its secret arsenal of nuclear weapons to head off an arms race in the Middle East.