IAEA set to
block aid for Iran’s reactor
VIENNA (Austria)—Thirty-five nations tried to find common ground Monday
in a fractious session focusing on what to do about Iran’s requests to
the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency for help on projects including building
a plutonium-producing reactor.
Diplomats accredited to the meeting — a committee of the International
Atomic Energy Agency representing its 35 board members — said there was
general agreement to deny Tehran’s request for aid in finishing its Arak
research reactor but lack of consensus about seven other projects.
Adding to discord was a ruling by the U.N. organization — the
International Atomic Energy Agency — that the reactor, as well the as
seven other projects did not pose a proliferation threat.
“All (Iranian) projects are in conformity with the relevant Security
Council resolution and specifically these projects do not contribute to
enrichment related or reprocessing activities in Iran,” Anna Maria Cetto,
an agency deputy director general, told an IAEA committee meeting
reviewing technical aid requests from Iran and other countries. The
closed meeting adjourned but resumed later in the day to give members
time to reach a common position in informal discussions.
The main council concern is Tehran’s uranium enrichment program — and
Iran’s defiance of a council demand that it freeze such activities. But
the Arak heavy water reactor is also worrying because once it is
completed — sometime in the next decade — it will produce plutonium.
This, like highly enriched uranium, can be used for the fissile core of
nuclear warheads through reprocessing. A Security Council resolution in
July demanded Iran stop all enrichment-related activities, But it did
not specifically mention Arak, saying only that Tehran had to stop all
“reprocessing activities” as well.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that Iran would be
self-sufficient in nuclear fuel in 2007, days after he acknowledged his
country was far from producing enough fuel to power a nuclear reactor.
To reach that goal, Iran would need to dramatically accelerate its
capacity for uranium enrichment. “Iran will produce its required nuclear
fuel next year,” the president said during a visit to Iran’s
Broadcasting Co., according to the company’s Web site. “Pressure by the
U.S. and Israel aimed at violating the rights of the Iranian nation will
not succeed,” he added.
Normally, the United States takes the lead in demanding tough action
against Tehran for defying U.N. Security Council demands that it freeze
uranium enrichment. But with council agreement on sanctions mired down
because of Russian and Chinese efforts to block severe punishment,
diplomats said the Americans have taken a back seat to France in calling
for harsher penalties.
A diplomat familiar with the U.S. stance said the Americans were not
backing the French — in the lead with demands that all eight Iranian
projects be reviewed and possibly refused — because of recognition that
the board would agree to nothing more than denying Iran help with Arak.
But a European diplomat said the Americans — along with Australia and
Canada — fully backed the French but preferred Paris be publicly linked
to the more hard-line position at a time when Washington was exploring
the possibility of direct contacts with Tehran
.—Agencies |
