Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says that Tehran will send letters to 12 nations of the U.N. Security Council, expressing its displeasure with the recent sanctions and discussing the fate of a proposed nuclear fuel swap deal.
Foreign Minister Mottaki sent a mixed message to the international community, lashing out at the recent U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution that was passed earlier this month, but extending the possibility for new negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.
Mottaki said that Iran is in the process of sending letters to the 12 U.N. Security Council states that voted for sanctions resolution.
He said that he is sending letters to the states that voted for what he called the "illegal" resolution, and that Iran wants to tell them how upset it is by their imposition of new sanctions.
Mottaki's spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, at a subsequent press conference said Tehran would also send letters to the United States, France and Russia, asking them about the fate of a months old nuclear fuel swap deal that Iran agreed to in May.
Mehmanparast singled out the European community and France, urging them to cooperate with his country to find a way out of the current impasse.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Mottaki criticized the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency and its director general, Yukiya Amano.
Mottaki strongly criticized Amano but said that there is still time for him to manage his organization in what he called "a more professional way." He added that the IAEA needs to keep information provided by Iran secret.
Alex Vatanka, an Iranian-born scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, says he has noted a pattern of statements from Iranian officials that shows they do not want to break off talks over their country's nuclear program.
"Across the board, when you compile the information that's coming out of Iran, statements from various officials, it seems to me clearly the intention is to continue the path of negotiations," he said. "However, they're not making any grand gestures to make the path of negotiations any smoother."
On Monday, Iran announced that it had barred two IAEA inspectors from entering the country, accusing them of filing a "false report" and of "leaking information" about Tehran's nuclear program. U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley criticized the Iranian move, saying that "reducing cooperation with the IAEA would "only deepen the world's concern" about Iran's nuclear program.
