Iran has hit back at the United Nations nuclear watchdog over its critical resolution passed on Friday, saying the document is likely to damage negotiations.
The International Atomic Energy Agency passed its first resolution since early 2006, censuring Iran for withholding information on its controversial nuclear program, and urging it to freeze construction of its newly revealed uranium enrichment facility in Qom.
Iran's IAEA ambassador, Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh, called the resolution "hasty and undue", and warned that it will "jeopardize the spirit of cooperation" necessary for talks, Tehran's state-run Press TV said.
However, he said Iran will continue to cooperate with the IAEA, and urged Western powers to take on more cooperative and less confrontational stance in their relations with Iran.
"We expect the agency to play its essential role and facilitate technical cooperation... the agency should function in a depoliticized environment, as we need to ensure that the agency focuses only on technical matters," the envoy said.
Of the 35-member IAEA Board of Governors, 25 countries voted for the resolution. Venezuela, Malaysia, and Cuba voted against, and six abstained. Azerbaijan missed the ballot.
The resolution was endorsed by Germany, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, the six nations involved in long-running nuclear negotiations with Iran.
Director General Mohammed ElBaradei told the IAEA board of governors on Thursday that his inquiry into allegations that Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons had reached "a dead end" as Tehran was not cooperating.
Tehran is already under three sets of UN sanctions for refusing to halt uranium enrichment. Iran insists it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity, claiming the right under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
Russia and China have so far blocked UN Security Council votes on tougher sanctions against the country. However, at a meeting in Brussels last week they joined the other negotiators in voicing dismay at a lack of progress in the negotiations.
MOSCOW, November 27 (RIA Novosti)
