Iranian conservatives warn on nuke cooperation

The attitude of conservative legislators, who regained control of Parliament from reformists in elections last month, could jeopardize ratification of an agreement signed by Iran last year to allow intrusive snap checks of its nuclear facilities.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohammed ElBaradei criticized Iran on Monday for failing to declare advanced nuclear research and equipment which could be used to make atomic bombs.

One senior conservative legislator said Iran could follow North Korea’s example by pulling out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"Iran’s threat about opting out of the NPT is serious," Hassan Qashqavi, member of Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, was quoted as saying by the hard-line Siyasat-e Rouz newspaper.

He said the IAEA board of governors’ meeting which began in Vienna on Monday had been hijacked by U.S. interests.

"The pressure from America is mainly political and is aimed at depriving Iran of nuclear knowledge," he said. "This will lead Iran to reconsider its nuclear cooperation."

Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity, not making bombs as Washington alleges.

Hard-liners’ objections to cooperation with nuclear inspectors had been more muted in recent months following Iran’s decision last October, under intense international pressure, to agree to snap inspections, halt uranium enrichment and cooperate more closely with the IAEA.
‘Unfair picture’

Iranian officials last week called for the IAEA to remove Iran’s nuclear program from its agenda, arguing that Tehran had done enough to prove it had no nuclear arms ambitions.

ElBaradei promptly quashed that request on Monday, saying there were still too many outstanding questions.

"They are giving Iran another deadline," the hard-line Etemad newspaper said in a commentary. "Their main policy is to continue the game, not to end it."

The moderate Iran newspaper said Iran submitted an official letter of complaint to the IAEA board on Monday, arguing that the latest IAEA report painted an unfair picture of Iran’s cooperation with the agency.

"The conclusion that there were some shortcomings cannot be justified," the newspaper quoted from the letter.

Hard-line papers focused on what they termed the failure of European powers Britain, France and Germany to fulfil an agreement to provide Iran with peaceful nuclear technology.

"Any non-commitment by the agency and Europe…should trigger a response from Iran," newly elected conservative legislator Aladein Broujerdi told the hard-line Jam-e Jam daily.

"Iran should not act beyond the framework of the NPT and it should not take steps to meet illogical demands," he said.