February 1, 2006

Press Statement

The Left parties have issued the following statement:

On IAEA Meeting on Iran Nuclear Issue

The Left parties reiterate their stance on the Iran nuclear issue.

The issue must be resolved peacefully and through negotiations within the framework of the IAEA. We respect Iran’s rights and privileges under the NPT and we hope that Iran on its part will fulfill its obligations under international agreements.

We have taken note that the Foreign Ministers of the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany have jointly issued a statement in London on January 31 to “report” the Iran nuclear issue to the UN Security Council. But any decision to take action “to reinforce the authority of the IAEA process” will be deferred to March until the report of the IAEA Director General becomes available.

We remain opposed to any “referral” of the issue to the UN Security Council as was earlier envisaged by the U.S. and some European countries. Our stand has been consistently that any IAEA resolution should preferably emanate out of a consensus opinion among the member countries represented in the IAEA Board of Governors.

We hope the Government of India will work towards forming a consensus opinion on the issue especially in consultation with the major countries of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Iran is a traditionally friendly country. Any developments aggravating the regional stability in the Gulf and Middle East would also affect India’s interests.

It is hoped that the developments during the period leading to the IAEA meeting in March will be closely followed, including the progress of the negotiations between Russia and Iran scheduled to be held in Moscow on February 16.