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Sout
h Africa proposed a compromise resolution at a UN meeting on
Iran here yesterday that urges Tehran to correct breaches of its
nuclear non-proliferation accords but stops short of the deadline
Western states want to impose.
"We request Tehran to remedy all failures identified by the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and cooperate fully with
the agency to ensure verification of compliance with Iran's
safeguard agreements," the text reads.
It was submitted to the IAEA's board of governors after Britian,
France, and Germany asked the UN nuclear watchdog to order Iran to
prove by October 31 that it was not secretly trying to develop
atomic weapons.
"We have drafted a resolution ... meant as a kind of a middle
ground. We do not really see deadlines as a factor," a South
African diplomat said.
"It is a working document. We are quite amenable to other countries
giving their input into this.
It does not differ that much from the resolution proposed by
Britain, Germany and France".
The diplomat added that those states "have incorporated some of our
language into their latest version".
The US, which believes Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons, on
Tuesday accused the Islamic republic of breaching safeguards
agreements under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The US delegation, along with the Japanese, gave its support to the
resolution proposed by Britain, France and Germany and said it
marked "a last chance" for Tehran to answer questions about its
atomic programme.
That text drew an angry warning from Iran that it could end all
cooperation with the IAEA.
The Iranian representative to the IAEA Ali Akbar Salehi said: "We
do not accept deadlines . . . You cannot impose deadlines on a
sovereign country".
The 35-member IAEA board is divided on how to handle Iran's case as
countries from the non-aligned world are reluctant to follow the US
and Europe's hard line.
South Africa, which holds the presidency of the Non-Aligned
Movement, dismantled its nuclear military capabilities in the dying
days of apartheid in the early 1990s. – Sapa-AFP.
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