VIENNA, Nov 21: The governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday approved Iran’s intention to sign a protocol giving the UN body the right to conduct more intrusive, snap nuclear inspections.
Asked if the board had approved Iran’s intention to sign the Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Vienna, Ali Akbar Salehi, said: “Yes.”
This means Tehran can sign the document immediately, though it will not formally enter into force until the Iranian parliament ratifies it.
But the move sparked a fresh row between Washington and IAEA, with the United States saying that the UN agency had weakened its credibility by denying there was evidence Iran was seeking atomic weapons, and the agency’s chief calling the US criticism “disingenuous”.
Washington wants an IAEA resolution finding Tehran in “non-compliance” with its international non-proliferation obligations — which could eventually bring UN sanctions — but Britain, France and Germany advocate a softer line.
The US says Iran has a secret programme to develop atomic bombs and was enraged when an IAEA report concluded there was “no evidence” of this.
The US ambassador to the IAEA, Kenneth Brill, said the phrase was “highly unfortunate” and that the IAEA should have used the words “no proof” instead.
He said the wording used by the IAEA provoked “expressions of disbelief that the institution charged with... scrutinizing nuclear proliferation risks was dismissing important facts”.
“So much of what Iran has said in the past year about its nuclear programme has turned out to be false that there is no rational basis simply to assume the contrary now,” Mr Brill said, adding that Iran’s “pursuit of nuclear weapons” was clear.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA chief, lashed back at Mr Brill, calling the US statement “disingenuous”. He also took a shot at Washington about its unproven allegations that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had revived his atomic weapons programme.
“We used the word ‘evidence’ here as we have used it over the last year, repeatedly, in the case of Iraq (where we) said that we had no evidence that Iraq had resuscitated its nuclear weapons programme,” Mr ElBaradei told the IAEA board.
On Thursday, he had said the IAEA inspectors have already been getting access to sites and information in Iran as if the protocol were already in effect. Western diplomats say, however, that until Iran actually signs, Tehran could curtail cooperation with the IAEA at any moment if it was dissatisfied with the agency’s board.
Iran has indicated that if the IAEA board passes a resolution declaring Iran in “non-compliance” with the NPT, as Washington demands, it would reconsider its intention to sign the protocol.—Reuters