Iran has also referred to similar accords between the West and other countries like North Korea or Libya, where agreements reached and promises made have not been kept.

In Resolution 1737, adopted by the Security Council in December 2006, an initial series of sanctions against Iran was implemented because it did not suspend its uranium enrichment programme.

Iran said that it has allowed the IAEA to access all its nuclear sites, voluntarily and more than any other country by signing additional NPT protocols.

[2] Subsequently, the IAEA declared that it was unable to conclude there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran and has referred the file to the UNSC.

[3] United Nations position: The permanent Security Council members, including Russia and China, declared their intentions to prevent Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction because of its belligerent rhetoric towards the West and Israel since the Iranian Revolution.

[6] Iran has referred to its inalienable right to develop nuclear technology for civilian and peaceful purposes under the NPT to justify its position.

[13][14] In March 2006, Iran strongly deplored United Kingdom's decision to renew its Trident missile nuclear weapons system.

Iran has pointed to the fact that the United States is the only country who has ever used nuclear weapons in history and has not ruled out the possibility to use them again in the future as part of the Bush doctrine, and against the UN Charter.

Israel has unofficially stated it needs to have nuclear weapons to assure its survival in a predominantly hostile Middle East environment, since its independence in 1948 and following the Holocaust.

Iran has responded that the Middle East should not bear responsibility for crimes against humanity and atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War II against the Jews in Europe.

[17] Air defense system: Russia has declared repeatedly its opposition to any military attack against Iran's civilian nuclear facilities.

In January 2007, Russia announced the sale of 29 units of its Tor Missile System to Iran as part of a one billion dollar deal to protect its installations.

[21] Financial investment: Iran has said it has spent too much money - over ten billion U.S. dollars in the past 30 years - on its civilian nuclear programme to give it up now.

Iran and the United States accuse each other of not working for the benefit of their own people but for a small group holding to power, even if both parties claim a broad democratic support for their endeavor.

[36][37] If attacked, Iran has vowed its readiness to retaliate in asymmetric warfare and by using its vast arsenal of missile forces to reach Tel Aviv.

[41] In April 2007, Iran declared it had reached the early stage in industrial nuclear fuel production following the installation of more than a thousand centrifuges at the Natanz underground facility.