By Xinhua
Davos, Switzerland : Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here Saturday urged the U.N. Security Council to be patient and show self-restraint on the Gulf state’s nuclear issue until receiving the next report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) around Feb. 20.
“We advise the U.N. Security Council to exercise restraint. There is not much time left until the final report of the IAEA comes out,” Mottaki told a panel concentrating on Iran’s foreign policy during the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting.
“We support the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, we are ready for compromises with relevant parties,” he added.
Mottaki made the remarks after reports from New York of possible further sanctions against it contained in a proposal by Britain, China, France, Germany, the United States and Russia, which was made available Friday.
Iran could face travel restrictions and bans on some of its citizens and an expansion of asset freezes imposed under two previous UN Security Council (UN SC) resolutions, according to the proposal agreed on by the six major countries on Tuesday.
The proposal also expressed the willingness of the six countries “to further enhance diplomatic efforts to promote resumption of dialogue, and consultations on the basis of their offer to Iran.”
The latest proposed measures will be the basis of deliberations by the 15-member UN SC in the coming weeks on a third resolution on the Iranian nuclear issue.
Mottaki said there had been an understanding between Iran and six major countries to give IAEA inspectors to resolve questions over Iran’s program, “and there is no reason for the hurry-up.”
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is expected to issue a report around Feb. 20 on his visit to Iran and IAEA’s inquiry into Iran’s nuclear activity.
Mottaki reiterated that Iran “has no plan to develop a nuclear bomb.”
Earlier Saturday, in a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Noer Hassan Wirajuda, Mottaki stressed that given various reports by the IAEA, the best measure to be taken by the UN SC “is to put Iran’s nuclear issue in its right place which is the IAEA.”