The European Union said that referring Iran's nuclear program to the UN Security Council was its sole option after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad affirmed Tehran's plans to press ahead with producing nuclear fuel.
''The EU's reaction to Mr. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech is that the language he used leaves us no alternative but to pursue a UN referral,'' an EU spokeswoman said Saturday. ''However, we want to build an international consensus on the matter. So we will be consulting with everybody,'' she said, according to Reuters.
In his speech, Ahmadinejad called on the UN General Assembly, as the largest organ of the world body, to set up a special committee to compile a comprehensive report and draw up practical strategies for complete disarmament. "The special committee should report on how the material, technology and equipment needed for production of nuclear weapons has been transferred to the Zionist regime in contravention of Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and come up with practical plans to make the Middle East free from nuclear arms," he said.
On Sunday, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi recommended the UN nuclear watchdog to refrain from a radical and unilateral attitude towards Iran's nuclear case. Referring to Monday session of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said, "If the IAEA puts aside its legal and technical work in its next day session and acts politically, the atmosphere will become radical".
Addressing domestic and foreign reporters during his weekly press briefing, he expressed the hope that the IAEA session would pave the way for negotiations.
Otherwise, the Islamic Republic would make decision on the basis of the outcome of the meeting, he added. Threats and pressures will have adverse consequences, Asefi said.
He called on the Europeans and the IAEA to look into Iran's nuclear case with logic, stressing that the language of threat and pressure will bear no fruit. "The IAEA should not ask anything more of us than Tehran's commitment regarding the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The Islamic Republic is not familiar with the language of threat," the foreign ministry spokesman noted.
