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'New York Shock' Sets in After Iran President's Speech
For some strange reason, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s speech to the U.N. General Assembly seems to have galvanized opposition to Tehran’s nuclear plans, which include enriching uranium and selling it to non-nuclear weapons States at bargain rates. Iranian officials, according to this article from the Tehran Times, seem genuinely surprised by this turn of events.
Tehran Times Political Desk
September 19, 2005
Home Page (English) 
TEHRAN: After President Mahmud Ahmadinejad presented Iran’s new plan for resolving the nuclear standoff with
the West on Saturday, [IAEA] diplomats in Vienna reacted in various ways, showing that both supporters
and opponents of Iran’s nuclear activities have become more entrenched in their positions.
The stance adopted by Iran has created a new atmosphere in Vienna, which one might call the “New York shock.”
According to a Vienna correspondent for
the Mehr News Agency, even though diplomats have spent days preparing for
Monday’s IAEA Board of Governors meeting on Iran’s nuclear dossier, Ahamdinejad’s
U.N. General Assembly speech is sure to affect the spirit of the talks.
Western delegations in Vienna had recently taken a more cautious [permissive]
view of Iran’s nuclear dossier. But under the influence of the
United States and after Ahamdinejad’s speech, Britain, France, and Germany
announced their latest positions and began working on a tough draft resolution.
Due to Iran’s strong position on its right to possess the complete
nuclear fuel cycle and its insistence that cooperation with the IAEA depends
on the agency not deviating from its legal and technical course, the E.U.
trio along with old allies like Canada, Australia and some small E.U. member States have adopted a hard line.
Iranian Opposition Groups Protest Outside IAEA Headquarters
on Monday.
On the other hand, members of the IAEA
Board Members from the Non-Aligned Movement, along with Russia, China and other independent, developing countries, welcomed Iran’s principled stand and emphasized its transparent
cooperation with the IAEA. They agreed that extending an invitation to
the public and private sectors of their countries to participate in Iran’s nuclear activities is Iran’s legal right, and the movement expressed its opposition
to any threats against Tehran.
[Non-Aligned Movement: The Non-Aligned
Movement is an international organization of over 100 states which consider
themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. They
comprise 55% of the human population. In his U.N. Speech on Thursday, Ahmadinejad
said that Iran would allow other countries to participate in Iran’s nuclear program].
Currently 12 countries, including the United
States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Slovakia, Portugal, Belgium, and Poland, are certain to support a resolution that calls
for stopping Iran from enriching uranium. Mexico is likely to join them. And Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Argentina are likely to adopt similar positions.
Tehran's Ambassador to Vienna, Mohammad Basti
However, the Mehr News Agency’s correspondent
reports that Iran’s diplomatic efforts over recent days have gained
momentum, and its position at the IAEA has been consolidated. Now, about
11 countries, China, India, Algeria, South Africa, Ghana, Tunisia, Yemen, Vietnam, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka support the idea of Iran pursing peaceful nuclear activities and settling
any remaining ambiguities in its nuclear program within the agency. Singapore and Pakistan are likely to join this group, and Russia can also be added to Iran’s supporters. Meanwhile, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Argentina can be regarded as swing votes and are unlikely
to abstain, since an abstention would be equivalent to voting against the
resolution.
The fate of any resolution in the event
that no country switches sides is unclear. If Russia and India strongly support the Non-Aligned countries, advocates
of the resolution against Iran will likely face their first-ever defeat.
Today at 9
am, before the IAEA Board meeting, Non-Aligned Members
along with diplomats from China will hold a meeting to study the latest developments
and coordinate their positions. Along with China, Non-Aligned countries plan to express a more insistent
position on Iran’s nuclear dossier, which would be a new development
at the IAEA.
Vienna-based diplomats believe that Tehran's recent insistence that its cooperation with the
IAEA would depend on a respect for its nuclear rights within the framework
of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is a new warning to the agency
not to politicize its decisions.
VIDEO FROM THE MUSLIM WORLD: 'IRAN WAS JUST
BUYING TIME'
Iranian TV: Iran's Chief Negotiator at Nuclear Talks Admits that Tehran was Talking to the E.U. to 'Buy Time,' August 4, 00:04:50, MEMRI
" Today we are in a position of power. ... we have managed to convert 36 tons of Yellow Cake into gas and store it."
Hosein Musavian, Iran's Chief Nuclear Negotiator
