Iran puts off IAEA inspectors' visit: Tussle over resolution
VIENNA, March 12: Iran put off a visit by an international nuclear inspection mission this week as diplomats struggled here on Friday to break a deadlock over a US-backed resolution to condemn Iran for hiding atomic activities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was split between a US-led bloc which wants to hint at possible action against Iran for what it says is a clandestine programme to develop nuclear weapons, and Non-Aligned states which want to include more praise for Tehran's efforts at cooperation.
Russia and China were also holding out on backing the US proposal before the 35-nation IAEA board of governors but were expected to go along with it, or at most abstain, if the matter came to a vote, diplomats said.
A Western diplomat said the problem seemed to be that the United States, which had made concessions to Britain, France and Germany, in softening the resolution had now "hardened its position" in response to Non-Aligned amendments to make the resolution friendlier to Iran.
Meanwhile, Iran has put off an IAEA inspection mission that was due to arrive in the Islamic Republic this week, Iranian ambassador to the international agency Pirooz Hosseini told AFP.
He said that "due to the approaching of the Iranian New Year we asked them to come later."
The ambassador said no new date had been set.
IAEA officials refused to comment on the inspection mission.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi had threatened this week to end Tehran's cooperation with the IAEA unless it stopped being "influenced by the Americans".
Hosseini said the delay in the inspection mission was not politically motivated. But a diplomat close to the IAEA said "of course it's political", and added that "the delay in inspections will definitely slow down what the IAEA is trying to do."
The IAEA has since February 2003 been verifying with inspections whether Iran's nuclear programme is peaceful.
IAEA spokesmen said the agency was readying itself to continue the meeting, which had begun Monday, into Saturday.
A diplomat from one of the 13 Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) states on the IAEA board said his group, which met with Iran's IAEA representative Wednesday, wanted to "soften the tone" to alienating the Islamic Republic.
The NAM grouping wants to eliminate two clauses in the resolution about which Iran is particularly sensitive. They involve mention of Iranian use of military-related sites for its uranium-enrichment centrifuge programme, and a call for Iran to suspend all activities related to enriching uranium, according to a copy of the NAM amendments made available to AFP.
The NAM group also wants to eliminate what could be a so-called trigger mechanism for moving against Iran: a statement that the IAEA board should in June decide "how to respond" to Iran's omissions in reporting sensitive nuclear technology.
Malaysian ambassador to the IAEA Gulam Haniff said the Non-Aligneds "want to have a factual text" in line with a report IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei had filed on Iran in February rather than one that threatens Iran.
The United States and western European countries had Tuesday reached a compromise on the text. The United States, Canada and Australia had been pushing for a tough statement but Britain, France and Germany wanted a milder draft.
The so-called Euro 3 had in October struck a deal with Iran to cooperate with the IAEA, and are stressing the path of "constructive engagement", a Western diplomat said.
The compromise draft condemns Iran for failing to report its possession of such crucial technologies as advanced P-2 centrifuge designs to make enriched uranium that could be weapons-grade. But it puts off any immediate reaction, such as citing Iran for non-compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a move that would take the issue to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei will fly to Washington next week for talks with US officials, "likely including US President (George W). Bush", on strengthening non-proliferation measures, an IAEA spokesman said on Friday.-AFP
