US disappointed on Iran's relation with IAEA

Washington, Mar 27: The United States has expressed disappointment at Iran's decision to limit cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a UN nuclear agency.

Iran announced its decision to scale back cooperation with the IAEA after the UN Security Council imposed more sanctions on Tehran on Saturday.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the international community wanted to find a solution to the stalemate over Iran nuclear programme.

The sanctions approved ban on all Iranian arms exports and freeze the assets abroad of 28 Iranian people and institutions believed to have ties to nuclear weapons.

The new sanctions also set a 60-day deadline for Iran to stop enriching uranium. Failure to comply could result in more sanctions.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, however, said, Iran would not not stop its nuclear programme, which he described as ''peaceful and legal''.

State Department's Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey, commenting on Iran's reaction said, ''their reaction to date has been disappointing and is a continuation of President Ahmadinejad's seeming desire to continue the path of isolation and the path of confrontation with the international community.'' However, the foreign ministers of the permanent five members of the Security Council plus Germany have expressed their willingness to sit down with Iran in negotiations, should they be willing to take the simple step of complying with the repeated requests and requirements of the international community and suspend their uranium enrichment activities.

Casey said, ''we would all like to see a resolution of this (crisis) peacefully, diplomatically, and we would all like to see Iran be able to benefit from civil nuclear power.'' The United States and its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the charge.

Meanwhile, the Russian company (Atomstroiexport) building Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant said yesterday that Iran has made its first payment for the construction.

Russia and Iran have been at odds over payment for the plant.

UNI

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