IAEA sets Iran Oct 31 deadline over N-plan: Tehran threatens to review cooperation
VIENNA, Sept 12: The UN’s nuclear watchdog on Friday set Iran an Oct 31 deadline to prove it had no secret atomic weapons programme, prompting Tehran to threaten a “deep review” of its cooperation with the agency.
Following intense US pressure for action against Iran, the 35-nation governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution setting the deadline. Iran’s delegation stormed out of the closed-door meeting in protest, accusing Washington of having new invasion plans after Iraq.
The toughly worded resolution gives Iran one last chance to prove it has been complying with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Washington says Tehran has violated the treaty in its effort to develop atomic weapons secretly. Iran, which denies the allegation, could face economic sanctions if reported to the UN Security Council for breach of its NPT obligations.
“We will have no choice but to have a deep review of our existing level and extent of engagement with the agency vis-a-vis this resolution,” said Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Vienna, Ali Akbar Salehi.
His comments were in a written statement he distributed to reporters as he left the IAEA boardroom just before the resolution was passed.
US Ambassador Kenneth Brill warned that any decision by Iran to suspend the IAEA inspection process would be interpreted as an admission that they were pursuing atomic weapons.
“If they wish to disrupt that (inspection) process, it can only lead the board and indeed the international community to conclude that in fact they are not pursuing a peaceful programme,” Mr Brill told reporters.
In Washington, a US official said: “This time we hope there’s not going to be a way to escape because this resolution is really tightening the noose on them.”
If Iran does not cooperate and is officially declared in non-compliance, “Iran will forfeit its right to share nuclear technology for peaceful purposes” and Russia will not be able to provide critical nuclear fuel for its Bushehr nuclear plant, the official said.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters he hoped Iran would not end cooperation with the agency but increase it.
He said the resolution sent “a very powerful message to Iran that they need to cooperate fully and immediately and to show complete transparency”.
Inspectors would be heading to Iran within the next few weeks to answer their many outstanding questions about Tehran’s nuclear programme, the IAEA chief said.
“We are going to adopt a very vigorous approach, a very intensive approach to try to complete our work,” he added.
Iranian Ambassador Salehi insisted that Iran “is a fervent subscriber to the NPT, a loyal party to it and a staunch promoter of the Middle East as a nuclear free zone”.
After the US-led invasion of Iraq, Mr Salehi said, it was clear the administration of US President George Bush “entertains the idea of invasion of yet another territory, as they aim to re-engineer and reshape the entire Middle East”.
Attacking Israel, Mr Salehi said: “Among those who have pursued and produced nuclear weapons outside The Five (official nuclear weapons states), Israel gets way with murder. It is pampered instead of being chastised.”
Israel has never signed the NPT. It has also never acknowledged having nuclear weapons, though non-proliferation experts say no one doubts Israel has them. —Reuters
