DAR AL ISLAM - IRAN: THE I.A.E.A. IS ON THE RECEIVING END OF IRAN'S CRITICISM

Iran Official Criticizes IAEA Move
By NASSER KARIMI,
Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's foreign minister warned on Friday that the latest punitive move by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency _ the suspension of nearly two dozen nuclear aid programs _ could affect Tehran's cooperation with the agency. Delegates to a 35-nation meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, based in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday approved the suspension of nearly two dozen nuclear technical aid programs to Iran as part of U.N. sanctions imposed because of the country's nuclear defiance .

"This sort of decision can affect the cooperation of Iran" with the IAEA, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted as saying by Iranian state television. The IAEA's decision was symbolically important _ only North Korea and Saddam Hussein's Iraq had been subject to such action _ although none of the aid programs directly applied to Iran's uranium enrichment program which the West fears is used to develop nuclear arms.

Instead, the projects are meant to support the peaceful use of nuclear energy in medicine, agriculture, waste management, management training or power generation. They are provided to dozens of countries, mostly developing nations. Iran has refused to halt uranium enrichment despite nearly three months of Security Council sanctions and the looming possibility that those sanctions could be stepped up.

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Previous stories concerning the I.A.E.A.: (link)

Pertinent Links:

1) Iran Official Criticizes IAEA Move