UN chief calls for implementation of Security Council resolutions on Iran

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United Nations chief urged Iran Friday, Feb 17, to implement Security Council resolutions under which Tehran should curb sensitive nuclear activity, but the Islamic state once again signaled it has no intention of doing so, Reuters reported.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also said Iran must cooperate fully with the UN atomic watchdog, which will send a senior team to Tehran next week to seek explanations for a trove of intelligence suggesting Iran has tried to design atomic bombs.

Iran, which is facing tightening U.S. and European sanctions targeting its vital oil exports, rejects Western accusations that its nuclear program is ultimately designed to provide it with the means and technologies needed to assemble atom bombs.

"I have been urging ... all senior authorities of the Iranian government that the onus is on the Iranian side to prove, to convince, the international community that their nuclear development program is genuinely for peaceful purposes," Ban told a news conference in Vienna.

He said he was "deeply concerned" by a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, a Vienna-based UN body, in November that detailed alleged research activities in Iran relevant for the development of nuclear weapons capability.

"The Iranian authorities must fully comply with relevant Security Council resolutions," he said, referring to several such UN texts issued since 2006.

"All these issues should be resolved peacefully through negotiations, through dialogue ... there is no alternative," he added, making clear his opposition to any military action mooted as a last resort by Israel and the United States.

Iran has indicated readiness to address concerns raised by the IAEA, whose team will hold two days of talks in Tehran starting Monday, and also to resume wider negotiations with the major powers for the first time in more than a year.