VIENNA/TERHAN, 7 July 2005 — Iran has asked the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency to let it temporarily break UN seals on atomic equipment that has been mothballed under an agreement with the EU’s three biggest powers, diplomats said yesterday. A senior Iranian official confirmed this was true but denied that it was a violation of its pledge to freeze all activities linked to the production of enriched-uranium fuel, a technology that can be used to in either atomic power plants or weapons.
“The Iranians have approached the (UN) agency with a request to temporarily remove seals from a component at the UCF (Uranium Conversion Facility) in Isfahan to conduct a test on this component,” a diplomat said on condition on anonymity.
The deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Saeedi, confirmed what the diplomat said was true. But he told Reuters in Tehran that the move had nothing to do with the suspension Iran promised France, Britain and Germany it would maintain while the four countries negotiate a permanent nuclear settlement.
Meanwhile, uncertainty over Iran’s nuclear policy under President-elect Mahmood Ahmadinejad intensified yesterday when reports by the state news agency that the moderate cleric in charge of its atomic program had resigned were immediately denied. State news agency IRNA, citing a well-informed source, reported that Supreme National Security Council head Hassan Rohani had “presented his resignation to President Mohammad Khatami”.
However Ali Agha Mohammadi, spokesman for the council, immediately told AFP the announcement was “totally false”. “A resignation now would make absolutely no sense and even today Mr. Rohani had very advanced discussions with Mr. Ahmadinejad,” he added.
In another development, Iran and Iraq resumed high-level military talks yesterday for the first time since the two neighbors went to war in 1980, pledging to pursue peace and security in the region. Iraqi Defense Minister Saadoun Al-Dulaimi hailed his meeting in Tehran with Iranian counterpart Admiral Ali Shamkhani as a breakthrough after decades of mistrust dating from the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. “Up to today we had no relations so there are many important issues to be discussed,” the semi-official ISNA news agency quoted him as saying. “Our goal is to assure our Iranian brothers that Iraq is a source of good ... not of evil and that Iraq wants to be a pillar of peace, stability and security in the region.”
Iran’s defense minister called on Iraq to oppose the construction by foreign powers of military bases, which it said would consolidate their presence in the region and reinforce Israel’s security. Shamkhani said Iran “opposes that and asks the Iraqi government to exercise its authority in the matter.”
