Iran: Freeze-for-freeze goes against NPT
November 15, 2008 - 0:0
A senior Iranian official has said that the 5+1 brokered 'Freeze-for-freeze' package is against the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“The proposal of ' suspension of sanctions vis a vis suspension of uranium enrichment' has numerous ambiguities and does not secure interests of Iran,” said Deputy foreign minister, Mehdi Safari, in Helsinki on Thursday.The comment came after a senior Iranian lawmaker said that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana wants Tehran to accept the 'Freeze-for-freeze' plan.
Solana tired to persuade visiting Majlis or Parliament members in Brussels that Iran should freeze its nuclear enrichment program, the Majlis rapporteur for the National Security and Foreign Commission, Kazem Jalali said.
So far, the UN Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions against NPT signatory Iran over its nuclear activities.
The five permanent members of the UNSC, plus Germany, offered Tehran a Package of incentives in mid-July, 2008. The package required the country to suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for political and economic benefits.
The NPT does not restrict any country of pursuing the uranium enrichment, Safari expounded.
In its latest report, the UN nuclear watchdog said that it could not find any 'components of a nuclear weapon' or 'related nuclear physics studies' in the country. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has carried out the highest number of inspections in the history of the body on Iran's nuclear activities.
The West has, however, sought to step up sanctions against the Islamic Republic for what Tehran sees as 'exercising its rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.'
(Source: Press TV)