Last update - 00:00 09/01/2007
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator says country won't quit nuclear pact
By Reuters
Iran has no intention of quitting the international treaty aimed at restricting the spread of atomic weapons, chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
Larijani said his country may alter its level of cooperation with the UN atomic watchdog if it continues to be put under pressure over its nuclear programs, but will not drop out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"We do not insist on quitting the NPT ... There are various methods to revise the cooperation level," the official IRNA news agency quoted Larijani as saying.
In reaction to a UN sanctions resolution passed on Dec 23, Iran's parliament passed a bill obliging the government to revise its cooperation level with the UN's International Atomic energy Agency (IAEA), and to accelerate its nuclear work.
The bill, passed last month, gave a free hand to president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government to decide whether it wanted to pull out of the NPT if pressured.
Larijani also repeated Iran's call for talks to resolve the nuclear dispute with the West, which believes Tehran wants to build nuclear warheads despite Iran's insistence that it wants to make fuel to generate electricity.
"We think that returning to talks is the best way to resolve the nuclear issue," he said, adding that "Iran will stick to its atomic work as a national cause."
Ahmadinejad's nuclear policies have been criticized in Iran since the resolution was passed.
Ahmadinejad accused the West of trying to create discord
among Iranians to reach its aim, which he said was depriving Iran of its legal right to nuclear technology, IRNA said.
"The aim of the resolution, passed by the enemies, is to pave the ground for some elements in Iran ... to scare our people and to weaken the nation's will," Ahmadinejad said in a clear reference to the recent criticism of his atomic policies.
A group of reformist parliamentarians has criticized Ahmadinejad for letting Iran's case be sent to the UN Security Council to face possible sanctions.
Report: Iran arrests man suspected of leaking nuclear secrets
Iran has arrested a man suspected of leaking secrets of the country's disputed nuclear activities to an exiled Iranian opposition group, state radio reported on Tuesday.
"The man had handed over classified information, including a bulletin on nuclear activities, to the hypocrites (People's Mujahideen)," state radio said, without giving a source.
The People's Mujahideen, labeled a terrorist group in the European Union and the United States, was the first body to expose Iran's covert nuclear program in 2002.
A leading hardline MP confirmed the arrest. "The man has been working in parliament's research centre since 2001," Ahmad Tavakoli told the semi-official Fars news agency.
"He was gathering and giving information to the terrorist group," he said, adding that the man would be put on trial soon.
Judiciary officials were not immediately available forcomment.
Iranian analysts say the People's Mujahideen lacks support in Iran where few can forgive its siding with Saddam Hussein in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on December 23 to impose sanctions on Iran's trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology in an attempt to stop uranium enrichment work that could produce material that could be used in bombs.
Tehran says it is determined to continue its nuclear work, which it says is meant only for producing electricity.
The West suspects Iran's atomic work is part of a veiled nuclear arms program.