- TEHRAN (Reuters) - President
Mohammad Khatami has warned Europe's three big powers that Iran's future
cooperation with U.N. nuclear inspectors may be at risk if criticism of
Tehran's nuclear program persists, newspapers said on Tuesday. In a letter
to the leaders of Britain, Germany and France, Khatami accused the EU trio
of working with Tehran's arch-foe Washington to heap pressure on the Islamic
Republic.
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- Britain, Germany and France have drafted a tough resolution
-- being discussed at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) in Vienna this week -- which sharply rebukes Tehran for lax cooperation
with the IAEA.
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- "Continuation of this behavior under the pressure
of America, will seriously harm mutual trust and Iran's cooperation with
the international community on Iran's use of peaceful nuclear technology,"
Khatami warned in the letter, extracts of which were carried in the reformist
Sharq newspaper.
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- "Continued unfriendly behavior and ignorance of
undertakings, will push Iran to consider its different options."
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- Government officials confirmed to Reuters Khatami had
sent the letter but were not immediately able to confirm its contents or
when it was sent.
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- Khatami's letter reflected a more aggressive tone from
Tehran in recent days in response to what it says are unfair and politically-motivated
accusations about its atomic ambitions.
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- Iran insists its nuclear program is designed solely to
produce electricity from nuclear power reactors.
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- But IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, in an unusually tough
speech on Monday, said Iran had not cooperated fully with U.N. inspectors
and must come clean about the full extent of its nuclear program.
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- The head of Iran's parliament warned on Tuesday that
the assembly may refuse to ratify the government's signature last year
of a protocol allowing snap inspections of nuclear sites.
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- "Iran's parliament does not take orders from foreigners,"
parliament speaker Gholamali Haddadadel said in a session broadcast live
on state radio.
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- "If parliament feels that the Additional Protocol
serves the interests of the nation, it will ratify it. If not, it will
reject it and the government has to abide by the decision."
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- "Ratification of the protocol depends on the IAEA's
behavior and the three European countries' fulfillment of their undertakings,"
he added.
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