Tehran terms new draft resolution as "not constructive" (Roundup)

Tehran - Tehran on Saturday said the United Nations Security Council's new draft resolution against Iran was 'not constructive' and was merely aimed at 'showing solidarity' among the world powers. 'This new draft resolution is not constructive and will not help solving the problem either,' Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeid Jalili was quoted by the official news agency IRNA as saying. 'It seems that with this repetitious resolution, (the world powers) just wanted to show their unity,' added Jalili, in apparent reference to the rift dividing the United States and Europe from Russia over the conflict in Georgia. The world's major powers agreed on Friday on a new Security Council resolution calling on Iran to halt its nuclear activities, but did not seek additional sanctions against the Tehran regime. The council's five permanent members - the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain - plus Germany touted the new resolution as a show of unity after the UN-backed International Atomic Energy Agency last week said Iran was expanding its uranium enrichment programme and not cooperating fully with the agency's investigators. The three-paragraph text calls on Iran to 'fully comply, without delay, with its obligations' under past Security Council resolutions and to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to build nuclear weapons. Earlier Saturday, IRNA reported that the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will go to Vienna to attend the General Assembly of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh, who is also Iran's vice-president, is scheduled to address the assembly Monday and is also expected to meet with IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei, IRNA said. Aqazadeh is in charge of the technical aspects of Iran's nuclear programmes while Saeid Jalili, as chief nuclear negotiator, is in charge of political talks with the world powers through European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated at the United Nations in New York that Iran was ready to hold talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany to settle the dispute over its controversial programmes. But he said Iran would not accept pre-conditions nor give in to demands that is suspend enrichment of uranium. On Friday the Security Council agreed on a resolution calling on Iran to halt its nuclear activities, but did not seek additional sanctions against the Tehran regime.