Russia, China to join Iran censure move

AUSTRIA: Western nations have convinced Russia and China to join them in censuring Iran at a meeting of the UN atomic watchdog over the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme, diplomats told AFP Tuesday.

The United States, Britain, France and Germany have persuaded Moscow and Beijing, seen as softer on Iran, to express “serious concern” at a gathering of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday, one envoy said.

It remained unclear, however, whether the text, which two others envoys said the six powers were very close to agreeing after days of haggling, would be a statement or a more serious “resolution” to go before IAEA governors.

Washington was “looking for a very strong signal of support from the board for the works that the IAEA is doing and an expression of deep concern about Iran’s nuclear activities,” said State Department official Victoria Nuland.

“We’re expecting some sort of a conclusion from that meeting tomorrow,” she told reporters. The IAEA’s latest report on August 30 said Iran had continued to defy multiple UN Security Council resolutions to suspend uranium enrichment by doubling capacity at its underground enrichment facility at Fordo. Enriched uranium can be used for nuclear power generation or medical purposes but also, when highly purified, in the fissile core of an atomic bomb. Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful.

The IAEA report added extensive Iranian activity at the Parchin military base, where it suspects Tehran conducted past nuclear weapons research, had “significantly hampered” inspectors’ ability to inspect the site. IAEA head Yukiya Amano told the 35-nation board on Monday that Iran had to allow access to Parchin “without further delay” and that a failure in a string of meetings with Iran was “frustrating.”

Nuland added meanwhile that the international community was looking “at ways that they can up the pressure on Iran, including through sanctions.” And she insisted sanctions were biting.

“In just a year Iran’s oil production has dropped some 40 percent from 2.5 million barrels per day in 2011 to 1.5 million barrels as of this June,” Nuland told journalists.

AFP