IRAN: Iran says referral to security council a 'big mistake' while protesters take part in nationwide rally over cartoons.

Record ID: 214540

  • Title: IRAN: Iran says referral to security council a 'big mistake' while protesters take part in nationwide rally over cartoons.
  • Date: 3rd February 2006
  • Summary: WORSHIPPERS PRAYING; WORSHIPPERS DEMONSTRATING AFTER FRIDAY PRAYERS; WORSHIPPERS CHANTING "DOWN WITH AMERICA" ; PLACARD READING "DOWN WITH DENMARK"; FEMALE WORSHIPPER CHANTING "DOWN WITH AMERICA" WORSHIPPERS LISTENING TO CLERIC; PROTESTER HOLDING POSTER OF AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI AND AYATOLLAH RUHOLLAH KHOMEINI PROTESTERS
  • Embargoed: 18th February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA4RMFONFS10KUL8RR3VED4BRY0
  • Story Text: Iranian former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Friday (February 3,2006) that Europeans would make a mistake if it sent Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council.
    "The Europeans will commit a big mistake if they send Iran's nuclear case to the U. N security council," Rasfsanjani told worshippers during Friday prayers at Tehran's University campus.
    The U.N. nuclear watchdog looked set to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council over concerns it may be seeking atomic bombs, diplomats said.
    Iran has threatened to respond by curbing U.N. inspections and scrapping talks on Russia's offer to enrich Iranian uranium to ensure the Islamic Republic cannot divert it for bombs.
    Tehran says it only wants nuclear power for electricity.
    Tehran told IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei that any Security Council involvement "would be the final blow to the confidence of Iran" in the U.N. watchdog, which would be barred from carrying out spot checks on Iranian nuclear facilities.
    Losing the ability to make short-notice inspections would impair the IAEA safeguards regime in Iran. EU diplomats said the threat would not deter efforts to rein in Tehran.
    Following Friday prayers, Iranians took to the streets to demonstrate against cartoons in a Danish newspaper depicting the Prophet Mohammad as outrage spread across the Muslim world from the Middle East to countries in Asia.
    Muslims condemned the cartoons as "blasphemous" and more European newspapers published them, arguing freedom of speech was sacred.
    Islamic tradition prohibits realistic depictions of prophets, and considers caricatures of them blasphemous. In one of the cartoons, the Prophet Mohammad is shown wearing a turban resembling a bomb.
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