World leaders gathering at the IAEA emergency Board of Governors meeting in Brussels voted 27-3 to report Iran to the Security Council for its nuclear program. Cuba, Venezuela and Syria voted against the resolution, while Indonesia, Algeria, Belarus, South Africa and Libya abstained. No Council action, including sanctions, would be considered before a conclusive IAEA investigative report due March 6 is released.
In response to the vote, Tehran says it will immediately resume its uranium enrichment program and ban UN inspectors to perform surprise checks at its nuclear facilities. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused nuclear powers of trying
to impose "scientific apartheid" and said they were ruining the
reputation of the IAEA.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel remarked following the vote that "Any president that questions Israel's right to exist and questions the Holocaust cannot expect any tolerance from Germany." Merkel also compared Iran's nuclear policy to the Nazi party's rise to
power in Germany, warning that in the past the nations of the world
refused to take a stance against concrete threats, enabling some of
history's greatest catastrophes.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld levied the charge that "the Iranian regime is today the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism."
The EU-sponsored draft resolution is available via the New York Times by clicking here.
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