Iran may limit N-checks

In retaliation for last week’s International Atomic Energy Agency resolution recommending Security Council referral for Iran, its parli...

In retaliation for last week’s International Atomic Energy Agency resolution recommending Security Council referral for Iran, its parliament voted on Wednesday to speed discussion of a bill that would force the government to scale back its cooperation with the UN atomic watchdog, state media reported.

If approved, the bill would oblige the government to stop implementing the Additional Protocol of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which allows UN inspectors to make short-notice visits to nuclear facilities. Tehran signed the NPT protocol in late 2003. But Iran’s parliament has not ratified the protocol, meaning that its implementation was not legally binding.

The bill was given single urgency status, meaning that it takes precedence over regular legislation, in a vote supported by 162 members, with 42 against and 15 abstaining, IRNA news agency said.

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“If the plan is approved, it will urge the government to stop the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol until our right to access nuclear technology for a fuel cycle is officially recognised,” IRNA quoted Parliament Speaker Gholamali Haddadadel as saying.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday the Islamic state might stop implementing the Additional Protocol and resume uranium enrichment if the process to refer it to the Security Council was not halted.

On Tuesday, it added that it could scale back trade ties with those countries that backed the resolution to refer it to the U.N.’s top body.

The proposed legislation also requires the government to supply Parliament with detailed figures on Iran’s trade with those countries that voted for the IAEA resolution.

War against Iran not on anyone’s agenda: UK

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BRIGHTON: Military action against Iran over its nuclear ambitions is not on the agenda of the United States or Europe, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Wednesday. Straw urged Tehran to cooperate with the West and said the European Union was ready to widen cooperation with Iran if it convinced the world it had no intention of building a bomb. ‘‘There is no question of us going to war in Iran. Why? Because it’s not going to resolve the issue,’’ Straw said. ‘‘No one is talking about going to war against Iran. It’s not on the agenda of the United States,’’ he told Sky News from his Labour Party’s annual conference in Brighton. REUTERS

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