IAEA to hold emergency meeting as Iran's request for nuclear talks rejected

The UN nuclear watchdog announced on Wednesday that its governing board will hold an emergency meeting on Iran's nuclear issue on Feb. 2, while Western countries dismissed the possibility of resuming talks with Tehran.

The meeting was requested by the European Union (EU) trio of Britain, France and Germany on Wednesday, said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Foreign Ministers of the three European powers decided to refer Iran to the UN Security Council when they met in Berlin on Jan. 12 after Iran removed some UN seals on its main uranium enrichment facilities and resumed research on nuclear fuel earlier this month.

At the Feb. 2 meeting, the EU trio and the United States are expected to present a draft resolution, which would ask the UN Security Council to press Tehran to cooperate with the IAEA in its investigation of suspected nuclear activities.

Earlier in the day, France rejected Iran's proposal for resuming talks with Europe on the nuclear dispute.

The unilateral resumption of sensitive activities announced by Iran last week meant it is not possible for us to meet in satisfactory conditions to pursue these talks, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau said in Paris.

"Iran must first return to a full suspension of these activities," he added.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that "decisive further steps" should be taken against Iran if Tehran fails to reconsider its nuclear program.

"We have to think step by step, and above all send a signal to Iran that shows the international community will not accept it if Iran doesn't respect commitments that are expected of it and the promises it has made," she said.

Britain, too, refused to consider renewing talks.

"Iranian professions of continued interest in negotiations are ... not credible. The Iranians knew full well that resuming enrichment-related activity would trigger" a halt to talks, and did it anyway, said a Foreign Office spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the world's patience with Iran has worn thin.

"I think we're long passed the point of talk," McClellan said. "We expect action from the regime in Iran. And the only action they have shown has run contrary to the demands of the international community."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, also rejected any return to talks with Iran.

"There's not much to talk about," Rice said during a meeting at the State Department with Solana, who agreed "there is not much point" in resuming talks if there is "nothing new on the table."

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country was capable of frustrating the attempt by the EU and the United States to push for referral of its nuclear case to the UN Security Council.

"There is no problem. They are trying their best and we can not prevent others from making such efforts. It is a wrong for some to believe that world organizations are their own tools and they can exert pressure on others by making use of such tools," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

He asserted that the EU and the United States would fail if they continued to use "language of force."

"The Europeans and the Americans should discard their arrogant position and instead adopt a rational stance on global developments ... they should offer reasons for their actions," said the president.

Also on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told IRNA that "taking into account the current situation, we think the possibility is slight for Iran's case to be sent to the UN Security Council."

Mottaki urged the EU not to seek the referral, calling it as a hasty decision which would complicate the situation.

Source: Xinhua