Nuclear watchdog in turmoil as Iran prepares to defy UN
The United Nations nuclear watchdog is scrambling for solutions to the Iran crisis as Tehran prepares to break agency seals today and resume further work at one of its atomic facilities.
International Atomic Energy Agency board members are discussing how to persuade Iran to resume a voluntary suspension of uranium conversion and enrichment. They have the authority to report Iran to the UN Security Council, which could trigger punitive sanctions, but there was no talk of that at an emergency meeting of the agency’s 35-nation board.
Iran this week restarted parts of the conversion process at its plant in Isfahan and planned to start the remainder today, said Sirus Nasseri, Iran’s top delegate to the IAEA. Agency seals would be broken and work begun only after an IAEA surveillance system had begun functioning, he said.
Conversion is a process that precedes enrichment. Highly enriched uranium can be used to make weapons while uranium enriched to a lower degree is used to produce energy.
Iran had suspended conversion under an agreement with Britain, France and Germany, which have been negotiating to persuade Tehran to drop its enrichment programme in return for incentives. Iran rejected the latest EU offer on Saturday.
Nasseri dismissed that offer of economic and political incentives as a package of “lollipops,” and argued that moves to curb countries’ right to produce their own nuclear power fuel were dangerous.
Countries barred from producing fuel become “dependent on an exclusive cartel of nuclear fuel suppliers – a cartel that has a manifest record of denials and restrictions for political and commercial reasons,” he said.
Still, he said, Iran wants to continue the EU talks and assure the board that Tehran “never” would leave the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty or abandon IAEA safeguards agreements.
Washington suspects Tehran of having a clandestine nuclear weapons programme, and US president George Bush said yesterday he was “deeply suspicious” about Iran’s intentions.
Before Iran resumed conversion, US and EU officials had urged that Tehran be taken to the security council for possible sanctions if it abandoned its voluntary suspension.
But a draft resolution crafted by Britain, France and Germany and obtained by The Associated Press did not mention the security council.
The text, which could be altered during negotiations, expressed “serious concern” about the resumption of conversion in Isfahan and urged Iran to co-operate by “re-establishing full suspension of all enrichment-related activities”.
It also said that “the agency is not yet in a position to conclude that there are no undeclared materials or activities in Iran”.
Diplomats said there was little stomach for reporting Tehran to the security council, in part out of fears that such a move – the IAEA’s last resort – might inflame support within Iran for the regime’s nuclear ambitions and scuttle any chances at winning the country over with broader economic incentives.
Envoys from nations such as Brazil and Argentina whose own nuclear activities have come under scrutiny also appeared reluctant to subject Iran to restrictions that could be applied to their programs one day.
Delegates are due to meet again this afternoon, but it was unclear when an agreement on any resolution would be reached.
As the meeting started yesterday, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei urged Tehran to “continue to work with Europe on a long-term framework agreement by which Iran’s relationship with the West would be normalised.”
“I’d hope that this is simply a hiccup in the process and ot a permanent rupture,” ElBaradei told reporters. “The important thing is to go back to the negotiating process and avoid any escalation of the situation.”
Meanwhile, exiled Iranian dissident Alireza Jafarzadeh said he had evidence the country recently produced 4,000 centrifuges capable of enriching uranium to weapons grade.
Jafarzadeh, who helped uncover hidden details of Iran’s programme in 2002 that fuelled US suspicions it was trying to build a nuclear bomb, told AP the centrifuges are ready to be installed at a nuclear facility in Natanz.
The IAEA would investigate “should we find anything credible” in the allegations, agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.
Centrifuges can also be used to enrich uranium for energy use.
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