Iran's new parliament has chosen former nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, pictured in 2007, as its candidate for speaker, the state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)
Iran's new parliament speaker Ali Larijani said on Wednesday that Western powers should not practice any "deception" over its nuclear issue, warning that Tehran could impose new limits on its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
"The West must stop its secretive diplomatic scheme of passing Iran's nuclear case back and forth between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Group of 5+1," state radio quoted Larijani's address at the parliament as saying.
"This parliament will not allow such a deception to be made," Larijani said, adding that "Should such a trend continues, the parliament will set new limits on cooperation with the IAEA."
The new parliament speaker described the recent report presented by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei on Iran's nuclear program as "regrettable".
ElBaradei's latest report, which was circulated Monday evening to the UN Security Council and the IAEA Board of Governors, still showed serious concern on the nuclear programs of Iran, according to media reports in Vienna.
Therefore, the agency will require "substantive explanations" from Iran to support its statements on the alleged studies and other information with a possible military dimension.
So far the report has not been published. According to media in Vienna, the draft report, which was a development on the report published on February 22, said Iran did not offer enough explanation on some problems, especially those ranged over high explosives testing and the missile re-entry vehicle project as well as uranium-related components.
The draft report is to be discussed on the meeting of IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna slated for June 2-6.
(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2008)
