Iran Says No Legal Basis for U.N. Referral 
By Reuters
January 31, 2006
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-nuclear-iran.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday moves to send its nuclear case to the United Nations Security Council were not legally justified and that it would not bow to demands it halt atomic research and development.
``There is no legal basis to refer Iran's case to the Security Council and the Europeans will face difficulties doing so,'' Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said in an interview with the semi-official ISNA students news agency.
He was speaking after the five permanent members of the Security Council agreed on Tuesday that the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), should report to the Council this week on what Iran must do to cooperate with the agency.
The agreement stopped short of recommending a formal referral of Iran to the Security Council, where it could face economic sanctions.
But Iranian officials have previously said any move to inform or report its case to the Council would lead it to scale back cooperation with U.N. inspectors and resume uranium enrichment -- the most sensitive phase of the atomic fuel cycle.
The foreign ministers of China, Russia, the United States, France and Britain, plus Germany and the European Union, said after a dinner in London that the IAEA must decide to bring Iran's case before the Council when the agency holds an emergency meeting on Thursday.
The tough action against Tehran -- the culmination of more than three years of failed efforts to find a diplomatic solution -- follows Iran's decision last month to resume atomic research and development after a break of more than two years.
The London meeting statement again called on Iran to halt atomic research, which has led to Iran removing U.N. seals at a uranium enrichment facility which could be used to make bomb-grade material.
But Javad Vaeedi, deputy head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Iran had no intention of backing down.
``Research and development is the Iranian nation's legitimate right and is irreversible,'' he told state television.
Both Iranian officials, however, stressed that Tehran was willing to continue negotiations to avoid a U.N. Security Council showdown.
``I still believe that a diplomatic solution can be found to get out of this crisis,'' Aghazadeh said.