--- SEARCH ---
WEATHER
CHINA
INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS
CULTURE
GOVERNMENT
SCI-TECH
ENVIRONMENT
SPORTS
LIFE
PEOPLE
TRAVEL
WEEKLY REVIEW
Film in China
War on Poverty
Learning Chinese
Learn to Cook Chinese Dishes
Exchange Rates
Hotel Service
China Calendar
Dialing and
Postal Codes


Hot Links
China Development Gateway
Chinese Embassies

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the UN
Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland
Foreign Affairs College
Iran Would Defend Itself 'in A Second'

Iran warned it is prepared to defend itself "in a second" if attacked and followed that up Thursday by dismissing accusations of nuclear non-compliance as "baseless."

"If anyone launches attacks on our country, either on nuclear or non-nuclear sites, without any need of justification, we will start our counterattack and force them to retreat in a second," Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said on Wednesday at the 15th International Conference on the Persian Gulf, which opened on Tuesday in Teheran.

"Nobody can threat against Iran," he added.

The United States and Israel, accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons secretly, have hinted at possible preemptive attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities. In return, Iran said it would strongly stand up to any aggression with its effective "deterrent power" in the region.

Meanwhile EU turned the heat up on Iran and its nuclear program, accusing the country of non-compliance just as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors met.

European complaints surfaced on Wednesday at a meeting of the IAEA in Vienna, where EU countries negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program expressed "regret" that Teheran had not reported the existence of an underground tunnel at the Isfahan uranium plant.

At the same time, the IAEA said Iran had refused to allow inspections of the Parchin military complex.

But an Iranian nuclear spokesman Thursday said the European Union accusation of non-compliance regarding Teheran's enriched uranium programme was "baseless."

Hussein Mussavian, spokesman of Iran's nuclear delegation team, said the issue of the tunnel had been brought in advance to the attention of the IAEA.

The EU trio of France, Germany and Britain also accused Iran of conducting quality control tests on centrifuge components despite the country's pledge to temporarily suspend uranium enrichment.

Speaking to the Iranian news network Khabar, Mussavian said "claims on the quality control tests on centrifuge components are not correct as all Iran did was some repair and maintenance work on the centrifuges which are permissible according to IAEA regulations."

(China Daily March 4, 2005)

 

Iran Rejects IAEA Inspection of Military Base
Nuclear Chief Says Iran Should Do More
Iran, Russia Sign Key Nuclear Fuel Agreement
Iran Raps European Delay, Pursues Speedup in Nuke Talks
Rice Says Attack on Iran Not on US Agenda
Iran Condemns Bush Speech on Terrorism
Print This Page
|
Email This Page
About Us SiteMap Feedback
Copyright © China Internet Information Center. All Rights Reserved
E-mail: webmaster@china.org.cn Tel: 86-10-68326688