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Iran signals defiance ahead of IAEA meeting
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-18 20:50
In Vienna, IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei was due to submit his latest
report on Iran to the agency's board on Friday.
France, Britain and Germany, who led now-stalled European Union negotiations
aimed at defusing the standoff with Iran, were due to meet representatives of
permanent council members in London to discuss whether to send Iran to the
Security Council.
Larijani, who has written to the EU3 asking for talks to restart, reiterated
that Iran would never drop its nuclear project, insisting that its only purpose
was power generation.
The world is not convinced, mainly because Iran hid uranium enrichment
activities from the IAEA for 18 years until 2003.
Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told the
semi-official Mehr news agency he believed the IAEA meeting would be "positive
and favorable for Iran."
Tehran suspended nuclear activities at Isfahan under a
November 2004 deal with the EU3, but it resumed work at the plant in August,
prompting the trio to suspend negotiations.
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