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India votes against Iran's nuclear programme, Pakistan abstains | | India on Friday supported the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog's governing body's resolution that prevents Iran from developing a uranium-enrichment facility in secrecy. On Friday, IAEA voted
overwhelmingly to prevent Iran for developing a uranium-enrichment facility in secret. The
resolution, passed today by a 25-3 vote with six abstentions, urges Iran to halt
construction
of the Fordow uranium-enrichment plant, located in a mountain bunker near the
city of Qom immediately. IAEA has also demanded that Tehran should immediately
freeze the uranium-enrichment project. Besides, the resolution asks Tehran to
clarify the original purpose of the Fordow facility and to confirm that Iran does
not have any more hidden atomic facilities or clandestine plants for any purpose.
Significantly, the latest IAEA resolution has also been supported by Russia and
China, which have shied away from censuring Iran in the past. The Russian and
Chinese support to the IAEA resolution conveys Tehran a clear message of international
disappointment about the secrecy and defiance surrounding its controversial nuclear
program. Russia and China both hold the power to veto possible international sanctions
as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The West is concerned
that Iran is secretly trying to build nuclear weapons in violation of its obligations
under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Meanwhile, the six countries that
abstained from today's vote were Afghanistan, Brazil, Egypt, Pakistan, South Africa,
and Turkey. Azerbaijan was the only country on the IAEA board whose representative
was absent when today's vote was taken. Those who voted against the censure measure
-- Venezuela, Malaysia, and Cuba -- are all developing countries in a bloc with
Iran. They called the resolution provocative and counterproductive. Iranian officials
say the IAEA resolution will undermine its relations with the UN nuclear watchdog.
However, the supporters of the move contend that they were provoked by the revelation
in September that Iran had been secretly building a second uranium-enrichment
facility for at least two years -- a subterfuge they said had raised suspicions
there may be more secret Iranian nuclear sites that could be dedicated to making
atom bombs. IAEA Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei told media persons in
Vienna
before the vote that Iran has continued to make counteroffers rather than accepting
the compromise deal. "[Iran's] position -- conveyed to me orally a number of times
-- is that they want a simultaneous swap between the fuel and their low-enriched
uranium," el-Baradei said. "They are ready to put this material under IAEA control
in an island in the Persian Gulf -- [the Iranian island of] Kish -- under our
control and custody. But that will not take the material out [of Iran.] The whole
idea, as I explained to them, to diffuse the crisis is to take the material out
[of Iran]." Tehran, however, has repeatedly denied that it is trying to build
nuclear weapons, claiming that its nuclear program is only for medical research
and the peaceful production of nuclear energy. |
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