IAEA gropes for way around Iran impasse
AUSTRIA: The UN atomic agency's board will be looking for a way out
of its impasse with Iran after two fruitless visits probing Tehran's
suspected nuclear weapons drive, in a meeting starting Monday. In a
report sent to International Atomic Energy Agency member states on
February 24, watchdog chief Yukiya Amano said that after the two visits,
on January 29-31 and February 20-21, “major differences” with Tehran
remained.
“The agency continues to have serious concerns regarding possible
military dimensions to Iran's nuclear programme,” Amano said. The report
also said Iran had substantially boosted its uranium enrichment
capacity.
The Islamic republic denied access to the Parchin military site near
Tehran where a major IAEA report in November said suspicious
high-explosives tests consistent with developing nuclear warheads were
carried out, Amano said. “It is very clear that Iran does not want the
agency to go to Parchin because it has something to hide. It is worried
about what the agency will find,” a senior Western envoy to the
153-nation IAEA in Vienna said.
A senior official familiar with the investigation said last week that
the IAEA team was only able to speak to “middle men” and that the
Iranians wanted to “constrain the process, and put us in a harness.”
Iranian officials repeated their assertion during the visits that the
report, which has prompted Western countries to ramp up sanctions and
raised speculation of Israeli plans for air strikes, was based on
forgeries, the agency said.
What response the 35 nations currently on the board of governors make
next week -- the meeting is open-ended and could last until Friday --
remains to be seen, however.
“Since the November report, the IAEA has not obtained enough
significant new information about Iranian activities to justify
additional pressure on Iran by governors,” said Mark Hibbs from the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
In particular, it is unclear whether Russia and China --
traditionally more lenient on Iran than their Western UN Security
Council partners -- will support any resolution passed by the board
condemning the Islamic republic.
In any case, beyond injecting what a second senior Western diplomat
called “a deeper sense of urgency,” it is unclear how useful such a
resolution -- one in a long list -- would be.
“The agency doesn't have any other instruments within its toolbox, it
can only operate with the tools it has under its mandate and under its
statutes,” the Western envoy said on condition of anonymity.
Instead, what Amano would like is guidance on how to proceed, envoys
said.
AFP |