Sanctions against Iran 'bad idea' (ElBaradei)

[alarcojon]

Iran is not an imminent threat and sanctions against the Islamic Republic would be a "bad idea", the UN nuclear watchdog chief has warned.

"We need to lower the pitch," Mohamed ElBaradei said.

Earlier, ministers from six powers stressed Iran must heed a statement by the UN Security Council, which urged the state to halt uranium enrichment.

Tehran insists its nuclear activities are peaceful and has rejected the Security Council's call.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4862912.stm

[ECH1969]

1. The best way to get Iran to back down is peaceful dialogue

[bemildred]

2. Somebody tell Dolton. nt

[bemildred]

3. Sanctions against Iran a bad idea: ElBaradei

Non-BBC mangled version.

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Iran says that it wants only civilian nuclear power and rejected a UN Security Council statement adopted on Wednesday calling for a freeze on uranium enrichment and a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iranian compliance in 30 days. “Sanctions are a bad idea. We are not facing an imminent threat. We need to lower the pitch,” ElBaradei, the IAEA head, told a forum in the Qatari capital Doha. “My message to Iran: the international community is getting impatient and you need to respond by arming me with information.”

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“Nobody has the right to punish Iran for enrichment,” ElBaradei said. “We have not seen nuclear material diverted to a nuclear weapon but we are not saying that the programme is used exclusively for peaceful purposes because we still have work to do.”

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Russia and China firmly oppose any sanctions, let alone force, and insisted on removing language in the UN statement that they feared could lead down that path. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, speaking at the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament, slammed the UNSC vote as evidence of “political manoeuvring by some western countries”.

He issued a formal Iranian offer to set up a “regional consortium” to enrich fuel for the country’s nuclear programme. He said that the consortium could involve “regional countries which have already developed fuel cycle programmes at the national level and intend to develop further their programme for civilian purposes”.

Daily Times