WORLD / IAEA
UN watchdog optimistic about Iran deal
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-07 09:45
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency expressed cautious optimism
Monday on the chances of reaching an international agreement to defuse
concerns about Iran's nuclear activities and make UN Security Council
action unnecessary.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member board was not likely
to discuss the Iran issue until Tuesday or Wednesday. But delegates said
that whatever step the council might take would stop far short of
sanctions.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohammed
ElBaradei briefs the media before the beginning of a board of governors
meeting at Vienna's U.N. headquarters March 6, 2006. The U.N. atomic
watchdog's board of governors meets on Monday to weigh Iran's refusal to
curb its nuclear activity, opening the way to possible UN Security
Council action over suspicions that it wants to make atom bombs. [Reuters]
But as the board meeting opened, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei suggested
the council might not need to get involved.
"I am still very much hopeful that in the next week an agreement could be
reached," ElBaradei told reporters, alluding to talks between Moscow and
Tehran aimed at moving Iran's enrichment program to Russia and possible
further contacts between Iran and Europe.
He did not elaborate. But diplomats told the AP that recent talks have
touched on the possibility of allowing Tehran to run a scaled-down
uranium enrichment program, despite its potential for misuse in building
atomic weapons.
That point was significant because the Europeans and the United States
have for years opposed allowing Iran any kind of enrichment capability _
a stance that Russia, China and other influential nations have embraced.
Tehran has insisted on its right to conduct enrichment, saying it wants
only to produce fuel for nuclear reactors that generate electricity. But
enrichment also can create fissile material for warheads, and a growing
number of nations share US fears that is Iran's true goal.
Russia recently has sought to persuade Iran to move its enrichment
program to Russian territory, which would allow closer international
monitoring.
But the US ambassador to the United Nations suggested Security Council
action was necessary, saying there was an urgent need to confront Iran's
"clear and unrelenting drive" for nuclear weapons.
Iran "must be made aware that if it continues down the path of
international isolation, there will be tangible and painful
consequences," John Bolton told a conference of the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee on Sunday.
Also Sunday, Iran's government warned that putting the issue before the
Security Council would hurt efforts to resolve the dispute diplomatically.
"If Iran's nuclear dossier is referred to the U.N. Security Council,
(large-scale) uranium enrichment will be resumed," Iran's top negotiator,
Ali Larijani, told reporters in Tehran. "If they want to use force, we
will pursue our own path."
He said Iran had exhausted "all peaceful ways," and that if demands were
made contrary to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the nation "will
resist."
Larijani said Iran would not abandon nuclear research or back down from
pursuing an atomic program that Tehran insists is only for the peaceful
purpose of generating electricity.
IAEA delegates suggested the UN agency's board would not push for
confrontation with Iran, and said any initial decisions by the Security
Council based on this week's meeting would be mild.
The council's most likely action, they said, would be a statement urging
Iran to increase cooperation with IAEA inspectors and to resume its
freeze on uranium enrichment.
Even such a mild step could be weeks down the road, but it would formally
begin council involvement with Iran's nuclear file, starting a process
that could culminate with political and economic sanctions.
Bolton said a failure by the Security Council to address Iran would
damage the council's credibility. "The longer we wait to confront the
threat Iran poses, the harder and more intractable it will become to
solve."
Russia and China, which can veto Security Council actions, are for now
opposed to imposing sanctions against Iran, though they share the
concerns of the US., France and Britain _ the other permanent council
members with veto power _ that Iran could misuse enrichment for an arms
program.
Though Russia and China, which both have economic and strategic ties with
Tehran, voted with the majority of IAEA board members at a February 4
meeting to report the issue to the Security Council, they insisted the
council do nothing until after this week's IAEA meeting in Vienna.
Russia is unlikely to agree to strong action while it negotiates with
Iran on the proposeal to move Tehran's enrichment program to Russian
territory. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was due this week in
Washington and New York to discuss the status of those talks with Bush
administration officials and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Both Tehran and Moscow have said new talks are planned, though no dates
have been announced. Iran rejected an EU proposal last year to end
enrichment in return for the West providing reactor fuel and economic aid.
Past IAEA board meetings have ended with resolutions taking Iran to task
for hindering investigations into a nuclear program that was kept secret
for nearly 18 years and more recently urging it to reimpose a freeze on
enrichment.
The February 4 resolution asked IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei to report
those concerns and others to the Security Council and to formally hand
over the complete Iran file to the council. It also asked him to provide
the council with his latest report, drawn up for this week's IAEA meeting.
That report, made available to The Associated Press last week, said Iran
appeared determined to expand uranium enrichment, planning to start
setting up thousands of uranium-enriching centrifuges this year.
"We have not seen indication of diversion of ... material to nuclear
weapons or other explosive devices," ElBaradei told reporters Monday.
"However, there are still a number of important uncertainties that need
to be clarified.
"Unfortunately, the picture is not very clear as to the scope of the
program and as to the nature of the program," he said, alluding to past
experiments and activities that could be used to develop nuclear arms.
Associated Press Writer Palma Benczenleitner contributed to this report.
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