Haaretz
Adar 21, 5767
Iran said on Sunday that President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would like to brief the United Nations Security
Council about his country's civilian nuclear plans, which the West says
are a covert attempt to make nuclear weapons.
The five permanent
members of the council - the United States, France, Britain, China and
Russia - plus Germany are considering imposing new sanctions on Iran over
its nuclear ambitions, which Tehran insists are entirely
peaceful.
"The president of Iran plans to speak in a possible
meeting of the Security Council on Iran's nuclear program to defend the
right of the Iranian nation to use peaceful nuclear technology," state TV
on Sunday quoted government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham as saying,
without giving further details.
Iran's IRNA news agency quoted
Elham as saying Ahmadinejad planned to attend "if the Security Council has
a meeting on Iran's nuclear program." The Foreign Ministry spokesman
confirmed the news to reporters but gave no more details.
Iran has
ignored United Nations demands that it halt uranium enrichment, a process
Western nations say Tehran is mastering so it can produce atom bombs.
Iran, the world's fourth biggest oil exporter, insists its aim is nuclear
power generation.
The Security Council imposed in December a
package of limited sanctions including a ban on the transfer of sensitive
nuclear technology or know-how. It threatened further steps if Iran failed
to meet its February 21 deadline to suspend enrichment.
The six
world powers are considering new measures but both China and Russia have
balked at the idea of financial sanctions.
"We believe that if they
follow an extreme way it won't help find a logical and legal solution but
we cannot give up our obvious right [to nuclear technology]," Foreign
Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference.
He
repeated Iran's call for negotiations to end the standoff.
"We have
always suggested that if the other side has any ideas or solutions which
are in the framework of regulations and which guarantee Iran's rights,
they can discuss them and the best place for that is the negotiating
table," he said.
A draft of new measures being considered against
Iran would expand a list of people, firms and groups whose assets would be
frozen or with whom trade would be restricted, such as Iran's
Revolutionary Guards and the state-owned Bank Sepah.