June 7, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 6, 1424

VIENNA, June 6: The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency has accused Iran of failing to comply with its nuclear safeguards agreement, according to a confidential report seen on Friday.

But the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on the eve of a meeting of the agency’s board of governors said Iran was taking steps to rectify the situation.

The report, to be presented by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei to the governors on June 16, will be closely read by the United States, which accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the guise of building electricity-generating reactors.

Hawks in US President George Bush’s administration have recently hardened rhetoric against Iran since the invasion of Iraq, raising the spectre of US military action.

Washington denies any plan to attack the country.

“Iran has failed to meet its obligations under its safeguards agreement with respect to the reporting of nuclear material, the subsequent processing and use of that material and the declaration of facilities where that material was stored and processed,” the report read.

It was unclear what the nuclear material was and how exactly it was processed.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi defended Tehran’s record. “We have answers for all the points mentioned in this news. We have done nothing which violates our commitments,” the spokesman said.

The report said Iran imported 1.8 tons of natural uranium in 1991, but did not declare the import or facilities for handling it to the IAEA until this year. It said this amount of uranium could yield 130 grams of enriched uranium for nuclear fuel.

“Although the quantities of nuclear material involved have not been large...the number of failures by Iran to report the material, facilities and activities in question in a timely manner as it is obliged to do pursuant to its Safeguards Agreement is a matter of concern,” the report said.

The IAEA, whose inspectors visited Iran in February, said steps were being taken to bring Tehran into compliance with its safeguards agreement.

Safeguards agreements ensure nuclear materials and facilities in Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) member countries are not diverted to secret nuclear weapons programmes.

Last month, diplomats said Mr ElBaradei would tell the governors that Iran had committed minor violations of the NPT.

An IAEA diplomat familiar with the report noted that the text did not use the word “violation”. However, Iran’s failure to comply with its safeguards obligations may be interpreted as an NPT violation by some IAEA member countries.

Washington has already accused Iran of violating the NPT and believes it has ambitions of developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies this and says its atomic programme, aided by Russia, is solely for electricity — an explanation US officials treat with scepticism in view of Iran’s huge oil and gas reserves.

Diplomats say they suspect Iran may have undeclared uranium and that it may also have tested uranium-enrichment systems using this nuclear material without telling the IAEA. They have also said this would probably be a violation of the NPT.

Russia is building Iran’s first reactor, at Bushehr, despite US complaints. Moscow insists it will recover spent fuel to avoid any risk of Iran using it to develop weapons.

US REACTION: The United States said on Friday that it found a report on Iran’s nuclear programme by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to be “deeply troubling” and cause for world alarm.

“We think the report and Iran’s programs themselves are deeply troubling and need to be studied carefully by all members,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. “Then we need to look at it seriously together.”

“We’ve known for some time that Iran has a nuclear weapons program,” Mr Boucher said.

“Iran’s clandestine nuclear program represents a serious challenge to regional stability, the entire international community and to the global non-proliferation regime,” he said.

“We think this report can provide important insights into the nature of the Iranian nuclear program and the problems that exist concerning Iran’s safeguard obligations,” Mr Boucher said. —Reuters/AFP