The Hindu : Front Page : Iran faces IAEA Vote

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Friday, Feb 03, 2006

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Iran faces IAEA Vote

We are at a critical phase not a crisis situation, says ElBaradei

VIENNA (Austria): Iran, facing almost certain referral to the U.N. Security Council, threatened retaliation, Thursday, and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program was "reaching a critical phase."

Ahead of a decision by the IAEA's 35-nation Board, U.S. and European delegates turned to behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to build the broadest possible support for reporting Iran to the council over concerns it is seeking nuclear weapons.

Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and a few other nations at odds with Washington remained opposed. India, a key opinion leader among Board nations, was said to be leaning toward supporting referral.

Diplomats accredited to the meeting said backing for Iran had shrunk among the U.N. nuclear watchdog's Board, since Russia and China swung their support behind referral at an overnight meeting with America, France and Britain - the other three permanent council members - earlier in the week.

"There's a solid majority in favor of reporting," Gregory L. Schulte, the chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, told The Associated Press. "There's even a more solid majority after Monday."

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said the number of nations expected to vote against referral were in the "low to single digits."

Iran remained defiant. Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator told IAEA chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, on Thursday that his country would severely curtail agency inspections of Tehran's atomic program and resume uranium enrichment if reported to the council.

Ali Larijani, in a letter made available to the AP, said such a move would leave his country no choice, but "to suspend all the voluntary measures and extra cooperation" with the IAEA - shorthand for reducing IAEA monitoring authority over its nuclear activities.

Furthermore, "all the peaceful nuclear activities being under voluntary suspension would be resumed without any restriction," said the letter, suggesting a resumption of work on full-scale uranium enrichment, a process that could lead to nuclear arms.

Iran has made such threats previously. But this time, the warnings - significantly - were in the form of a formal notification to the head of the IAEA.

As the meeting adjourned Thursday, U.S. and European diplomats intensified efforts to widen support for a European draft resolution calling for referral.

ElBaradei said the meeting opened a "window of opportunity" to defuse the crisis, stressing that even if the issue is referred, the Security Council would not take up the issue before next month.

"We are reaching a critical phase, but it is not a crisis," ElBaradei told reporters.

Iran, which claims its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed only at generating electricity, repeatedly has warned against provoking it into doing exactly what the world wants it to renounce: starting full-scale uranium enrichment - as well as curtailing IAEA inspections.

Key permanent members of the Security Council remained unmoved.

Grigory Berdennikov, Russia's chief IAEA delegate, reinforced Moscow's position, telling reporters that referral to the Security Council would send Iran "a serious signal."

Schulte agreed: "It is time to send a clear and unequivocal message to the Iranian regime about the concerns of the international community by reporting this issue to the Security Council."

Washington has waited years for international suspicions over Iran's nuclear ambitions to translate into support among board nations.

Only a simple majority is needed to approve the text, but America and its key backers have held off pushing for earlier referral in hopes of building support. Backing has grown since January 10, when Iran stripped IAEA seals from enrichment equipment and announced it would restart the program.

A handful of countries with major policy disputes with the Americans remain opposed - among them Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and Belarus.

"My delegation manifests its total disagreement with the proposal ... to bring it to the Security Council," said chief Venezuelan delegate, Gustavo Marques Marin.

Syrian chief delegate, Safwan Ghanem, told reporters: "We will vote 'no'."

A vote was expected Friday or Saturday. Countries opposed, have the choice of directly voting against the text or abstaining.

Speaking for Germany, Britain and France - the three nations representing the European Union - German chief delegate, Herbert Honsowitz, told the meeting, "The time now has come for the Security Council to get involved."

The confidential draft resolution obtained by AP "requests the Director General to report to the Security Council" on steps Iran needs to take to dispel international suspicion it could be seeking to manufacture nuclear arms.

The draft expresses "serious concerns about Iran's nuclear program" and notes "the absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes."

If the Board approves referral as expected, it will launch a protracted process that could end in Security Council sanctions for Tehran.

But no action is expected for weeks, if not months. Moscow and Beijing support referral only on the condition that the council do nothing until at least March, when the Board next meets to review the status of an IAEA probe into Iran's nuclear programme and recommends further action.

"I am making very clear that the Security Council is not asked at this stage to take any action," ElBaradei said.

And Berdennikov, the Russian delegate, told reporters that Moscow "insists" no Security Council action be taken before March.

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