World leaders welcome Iran's pledge on its nuclear program as positive
World leaders welcome Iran's pledge on its nuclear program as positive
Agence France-Presse, Kuta, Indonesia
World leaders headed by U.S. President George W. Bush joined on
Wednesday in applauding Iran's pledge to comply with strict
international demands regarding its nuclear program.
Bush called Iran's commitment to meet International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) requirements for a tighter inspections
regime, full disclosure of its past nuclear activities and a
suspension of uranium enrichment a "very positive development."
The United States suspects Iran is using a program which
Tehran claims is purely peaceful to covertly develop nuclear
weapons, and U.S. officials earlier stressed that Washington was
expecting complete compliance with an IAEA deadline of Oct. 31 to
come clean on its plans.
"It looks like they (Iranians) are accepting the demands of
the free world and it's up to them to prove they've accepted the
demands. It's a very positive development," Bush told reporters
on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Iran made the promise after an unprecedented diplomatic
shuttle by the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain
to Tehran, and Bush said he wanted to thank them for "taking a
very strong universal message to the Iranians that they should
disarm."
"Japan believes Iran's decision was a positive step," Chief
Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference in Tokyo on
Wednesday.
"But Iran must quickly implement the decision and all other
measures required by the IAEA," Fukuda said.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, current chair of the
European Union, announced the "positive outcome" of the
diplomatic mission to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
He recalled that an EU summit last week had urged Iran to
"sign, ratify and implement promptly and unconditionally" the
additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
allowing snap inspections of nuclear sites.
"This development ... will help create the conditions on which
the Brussels (summit) agreed were necessary to foster cooperation
with an important partner for the stability of the region,"
Berlusconi added.
Nikolai Shingaryev, top spokesman for the Russian Atomic
Energy Ministry, told AFP, "We welcome this decision, this is a
positive step."
Russia is building Iran's first nuclear plant, Bushehr, in a
US$800 million deal and the Iranian pledge should ease U.S.
pressure on Moscow over its assistance.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan "welcomes the declaration
agreed in Tehran," but he also "encourages the Iranian
authorities to further cooperate with the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) to resolve all outstanding issues with the
agency," a spokesman said.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the deal he helped
broker "an important step forward," and France's Dominique de
Villepin said it was an "important step in Iran's commitment to
the struggle against proliferation".
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said that "everything
depends now on the implementation" of the accord which "offers a
great opportunity for Iran and that should not be missed."
While making no concessions, the three ministers tried "to
open to Iran the path of return into the international
community", Fischer added.
Iranian President Mohammed Khatami hailed the European Union's
drive to engage in dialog with his country.
"I welcome the coming of the three ministers. This not only
shows their wish to have relations with Iran but also their wish
to contribute to peace and stability in the region," the
president said.
"I hope we can move forward and remove tensions in the
region," Khatami added.
A lone dissenting voice came from Iran's arch-foe Israel,
whose chief of military intelligence warned that the "Iranian
nuclear program will reach its point of no return within 10
months," after which "international diplomatic measures will not
be able to stop the program."
If it does not meet the IAEA demands, Iran risks being
referred to the UN Security Council, which could decide to
implement sanctions.