Iran Gains Victory in U.N.

One has to wonder why an oil-rich country like Iran wants a nuclear energy program. Perhaps Tehran has embraced the global environmentalist movement and will soon embark on a country-wide recycling program, too.

Iran Boasts of Victory Over U.S. on Nuclear Case
By Paul Hughes

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran boasted on Tuesday it had defeated U.S. efforts to send its nuclear case to the U.N. Security Council while warning that its uranium enrichment freeze would only last for a few months.

"The Americans have been calling for Iran to be reported to the Security Council for a year and a half, now the whole world has turned down America's calls," Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani told a news conference.

"Despite the U.S. propaganda Iran has not relinquished its right to the (nuclear) fuel cycle and it never will do," said the cleric, who is secretary-general of Iran's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council. His comments appeared to undermine European Union efforts to persuade Tehran to permanently mothball
enrichment facilities -- which can be used to make atomic reactor fuel or nuclear bombs -- and were likely to fuel U.S. concerns that Iran secretly plans to produce nuclear weapons.

Iran, which insists its nuclear program is solely for electricity generation, on Monday escaped possible U.N. sanctions after agreeing to suspend all uranium processing and enrichment activities.