Iran warns UN agency over nuclear deadline

Chief Iranian delegate Ali Akbar Salehi then walked out in protest. Iranian officials had repeatedly warned that imposing a deadline and insisting on other tough language in the resolution would aggravate nuclear tensions.

“We will have no choice but to have a deep review of our existing level and extent of engagement with the agency,” Salehi said, suggesting that Tehran might reduce or even break off links – moves that would doom inspection attempts to probe Iran’s nuclear secrets.

A decision last November by North Korea to renounce the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty has shut the outside world out of its secretive nuclear activities even as the regime openly threatens to make nuclear weapons.

If the next board meeting in November determines that Iran has not complied with the treaty banning the spread of nuclear arms, the non-compliance must reported to the United Nations Security Council, where reaction could range from criticism to economic sanctions.

The United States compared the situation with Iraq, noting that Baghdad had defied agency inspectors and hid plans to make nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction ahead of the spring invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

But diplomats at the meeting warned against seeking parallels between the neighbours.

And Salehi – whose decision to walk out in protest was a first in recent agency memory – accused the United States of provoking the protest.

“At present, nothing pervades their appetite for vengeance, short of confrontation and war,” he told the meeting. “It is no secret that the current US administration ... entertains the idea of invasion of yet another territory as they aim to re-engineer and reshape the entire Middle East region.”

“We reject the ultimatum in this draft,” he said, calling it a “disaster for the agency”.

The resolution, submitted by Australia, Canada and Japan, called on Iran to “provide accelerated co-operation” with agency efforts to clear up questions about Tehran’s nuclear programme.

It also urged Iran to “ensure there are no further failures” in reporting obligations and called on it to ”suspend all further uranium enrichment-related activities, including the further introduction of nuclear material” into a facility where UN nuclear agency inspectors found traces of weapons-grade enriched uranium.

The United States and other Western countries accuse Iran of working on a secret nuclear weapons programme. They had been pushing for a resolution finding Iran in non-compliance, but gave up because of lack of support among board members.

Chief US delegate Kenneth Brill said the threat by Iran to cut or end cooperation with the IAEA only “suggests they have something to hide that they do not want to come to light”.

An IAEA report to the board noted that traces of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium were found at an Iranian nuclear facility, and said tests run by Iran made little sense unless the country was pursuing nuclear weaponry.

Tehran insists its nuclear programmes are designed to generate electricity and that its equipment was ”contaminated” with enriched uranium by a previous owner.

IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei expressed confidence that Iran would comply with the agency.

“I think the board is sending a very powerful message of support to the agency’s work, to my work,” he said. “It’s also sending a very powerful message to Iran that they need to co-operate fully and immediately and to show complete transparency.”