VIENNA, 10 September 2007 — The chief of the UN nuclear watchdog will tell skeptical nations on its governing board this week Iran’s pledge of atomic transparency should be given a chance to work, not dismissed as a time-buying ruse.
An ambiguously worded deal Iran agreed with International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to explain the murky scope of its nuclear program faces scrutiny at a meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation board starting today.
The plan has vexed Western powers by allowing Iran to answer questions one by one according to a vague timeline while leaving untouched its expanding uranium-enrichment program, a possible route to atom bombs, despite UN resolutions demanding a halt.
It has also wrong-footed a US-led push to rein in Iran by eroding European support for, and stiffening Russian resistance to, tougher UN sanctions. Iran won the reprieve by threatening to cut off the IAEA if pressure intensifies, diplomats said.
After sparring with Washington over the plan and receiving a demarche from its closest EU allies, IAEA Director Mohamed El-Baradei said he would underline to the board that the deal marks an important step forward, not a damaging setback.
Western delegates said they were looking for Baradei to correct impressions left by the plan’s text that the IAEA could make no more inquiries once historical questions were solved even if fresh suspicions arose, and excused Iran from UN demands to grant wider inspections or suspend enrichment.
Baradei said those perceptions were indeed incorrect. “There has been quite a lot of misunderstanding,” he said. The plan is a “working document” to be built on, not a final treaty that precludes any measures not spelled out, he told reporters invited to a rare briefing on Friday.
He said he would also make clear the IAEA would insist on documentation and access to hitherto off-limits areas to check Iranian answers, a key measure missing from the plan.
“Whether Iran will walk out of this understanding, I don’t know now. All we know is that Iran has committed to cooperating and clearing their name. We have to give them that chance.”
Iran says its nuclear energy quest is solely for electricity generation, not a front for bombmaking as the West suspects, and it is serious about going the extra mile to overcome mistrust President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would not bow to Western pressure and halt its atomic work and suggested there was growing acceptance for Tehran’s position in the nuclear row.
Ahmadinejad yesterday lashed out at his Western foes, saying they were “racing to hell.” “The Iranian people have climbed over difficult mountain passes on their path of progress. The enemies need to step aside from our path and give up their satanic ideas,” he said, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.
“One or two countries are refusing to accept that Iran is now mastering nuclear technology... Some countries are racing toward hell. But this makes us sad and, for the good of their people, we will resist.”
Iran also said it was still holding discussions with Russia to agree a date for the completion of its first nuclear power plant, a much delayed project being built by Russian engineers.
“Discussions are continuing about Bushehr (nuclear power plant) and until these are concluded we cannot say exactly when the power station will be completed,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters in Tehran.
