Reuters: European Union foreign ministers agreed on Thursday that Iran should be referred to the U.N. Security Council if the world nuclear watchdog confirms Tehran has resumed suspect nuclear activities, Sweden’s foreign minister said. Reuters
NEWPORT, Wales – European Union foreign ministers agreed on Thursday that Iran should be referred to the U.N. Security Council if the world nuclear watchdog confirms Tehran has resumed suspect nuclear activities, Sweden’s foreign minister said.
“We agree that we must continue to state that if the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is not satisfied with the result then it has to go to the Security Council,” said Sweden’s Laila Freivalds following discussions on Iran with her EU counterparts at a meeting in Newport, Wales.
“But we don’t think now is the time to discuss sanctions,” she added.
The IAEA is due to deliver its latest report on Iran’s nuclear programme to 35 nations on the agency’s board of governors on Saturday, diplomats close to the agency said.
The key element will be confirmation that Iran has resumed work at a uranium processing plant at Isfahan, which Tehran mothballed under a November 2004 deal with France, Britain and Germany.
Processing uranium can be enriched into nuclear fuel used both in power stations and potentially to make a bomb.
Freivalds said EU foreign ministers showed a united front behind the Big Three and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. All ministers stressed the importance of showing Iran that its attempts to divide Europe had failed, she said.
“We are totally in agreement that we must continue in this form and that we must continue to state the fundamental demands. It is completely unacceptable to live with a situation which can lead to Iran getting nuclear weapons,” Freivalds said.
“The important thing is that the Security Council confirms the demands the IAEA has posed and thereby shows a broader unity so it’s not just the EU but also the Security Council that is behind the demands,” she added.
