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VIENNA/TEHRAN, Aug 10: Iran broke UN seals at a uranium processing plant on Wednesday, angering the European Union which urged the UN nuclear watchdog’s board to demand that Tehran halt all sensitive nuclear activities.
Shortly after Iranian officials reopened sensitive areas of the Isfahan plant in central Iran, Britain, France and Germany submitted a draft resolution to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) board of governors.
The draft calls on Tehran to immediately resume “full suspension of all (nuclear) enrichment-related activities including the production of feed material”, a European diplomat familiar with the text told Reuters. The diplomat said it did not refer Tehran to the UN Security Council.
An IAEA spokesman confirmed that the draft text had been given to the IAEA to be discussed on Thursday. He declined to comment on the content.
“A resolution has been tabled and we are notifying the board of a meeting tomorrow at o3pm (0600pm PST) “ spokesman Peter Rickwood said.
A senior Iranian delegate to the IAEA meeting said all UN seals had been removed from the Isfahan facility.
“The removal of seals has been completed. The plant is fully operational now,” Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, told Reuters by telephone from Vienna.
Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the IAEA, confirmed the Iranians had removed all seals on machines at Isfahan although she said it had left some on stockpiled nuclear materials.
The UN watchdog put on the seals after Tehran agreed with the European Union’s biggest powers to halt all nuclear fuel work last November to ease tensions after the IAEA found Iran had hidden weapons-grade highly enriched uranium.
EU PROPOSAL: Iran restarted work at less sensitive areas of the plant on Monday after rejecting economic and political incentives from Britain, France and Germany, known as the EU3, to give up its nuclear programme which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes.
IAEA officials agreed Tehran’s request to remove the seals after installing surveillance cameras to ensure no uranium is shifted away from the plant for any covert weapons work.
Under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Iran has signed, Tehran may process and enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. But the EU3 say the only way to prove peaceful intentions is to renounce all sensitive technologies.
Iran denies accusations that its nuclear programme is a front for bomb-making. It says it needs to develop nuclear power as an alternative energy source to meet booming electricity demand and preserve its oil and gas reserves for export.
Matthew Boland, spokesman of the US Mission to the United Nations in Vienna, said: “Today’s breaking of seals is yet another sign of Iran’s disregard of international concerns.”
The German government said Iran had rejected the EU3’s incentives after only a “superficial review” and appealed to Tehran to look at the proposals again.
But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the European demands were “illogical and arrogant”.
“The resumption of activities at Isfahan nuclear plant is a step to protect the nation’s rights. Pressures and threats can not make us put our people’s rights to auction,” Asefi said.
EU DRAFT RESOLUTION: The IAEA board convened an emergency meeting on Tuesday but quickly adjourned to give the trio time to negotiate with other members of the 35-nation board about the text of the resolution.
The IAEA board prefers to make decisions by consensus, but can decide to vote if consensus is impossible.—Reuter
