On Friday, the six countries involved in talks to persuade Iran to drop uranium enrichment delayed a vote on a new set of sanctions against the Islamic Republic until November. The vote was postponed pending reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
The six nations involved in talks are the five permanent Security Council members (China, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom and France) plus Germany
The U.S. and France have urged tougher punishments for Iran, which is suspected of pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program. Tehran insists it needs its own nuclear fuel for power generation, and wants to be independent from foreign supplies.
"By continuing cooperation with the IAEA, we seek to avert new sanctions," Mohammad Ali
Hosseini said.
Hosseini also accused the Western nations of hampering contacts between the Islamic Republic and the UN watchdog.
"The radical approach being pursued by certain countries with the aim of hampering cooperation between Iran and the IAEA has not yielded dividends to their governments, something evident from the latest session of the six nations," the diplomat said.
Iran has defied three consecutive UN resolutions against its nuclear program since last year and has called two previously-imposed rounds of sanctions illegal.
However, since early-summer talks between Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, and IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, Tehran has allowed two inspections of its 40-MW heavy water nuclear reactor in Arak, potentially able to produce weapons-grade plutonium. Permission came despite Iran's denial of access to the site following the second set of sanctions in March.
Iran held another series talks with the UN in August, with ElBaradei confirming that the plutonium issue had been resolved, but urging more efforts from Tehran to prove its nuclear program is peaceful.
