AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
WASHINGTON: Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim state, urged the international community Tuesday to look beyond the UN Security Council to end the Iranian nuclear crisis, amid a looming deadline for Tehran to suspend all uranium enrichment activities.
“When it comes to the dealing of this issue at the global level by the United Nations, we believe that there is still room for negotiations beyond the Security Council,” Indonesia's envoy to Washington Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat told reporters.
All parties, he said, should pursue “constructive dialogue to find an acceptable solution which addresses, on the one hand, the concern regarding possible development of nuclear weapons by Iran and, on the other hand, the rights of Iran to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.”
Speaking at a forum organized by the National Press Club, Parnohadiningrat said that it was pertinent that venues for dialogue remain open to end the nuclear crisis, which had kept energy markets on tenterhooks.
The Security Council on July 31 adopted a resolution requiring Iran, the world's fourth largest crude oil producer, to suspend all activities related to uranium enrichment by August 31 or risk possible sanctions.
It follows a July 12 agreement to refer Iran to the council for failing to respond to a package of energy, commercial and technological incentives to suspend enrichment. Iran has said it will respond to this package by August 22.
Western powers, led by the United States, suspect Iran could be trying to build nuclear weapons, charges denied by Tehran which says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes.
“Of course by the end of this month, we will see” how the world handles the crisis, Parnohadiningrat said.
At least until this stage, Indonesia believes there is scope for a peaceful settlement of the issue beyond the Security Council, the envoy said, adding, however, “I do not know whether a week later, things can change.”
A defiant Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated in a speech Tuesday that Tehran would not be cowed into giving up its nuclear program.
Indonesia has emphasized the need for Iran to abide by all of the provisions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global nuclear watchdog, Parnohadiningrat said.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told Ahmadinejad at a meeting in May that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Jakarta would abide by it “both in letter and spirit” and hoped other parties would do the same, the envoy said.
Parnohadiningrat also said that Indonesia was aware of the growing global problem of controlling the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
“The dire possibility of these weapons, particularly nuclear weapons, being acquired and deployed by non-state actors is a serious concern to us all,” he said.
But, he added, no nation was capable of effectively dealing with the complex issue unilaterally.
