VIENNA, 12 August 2005 — The governing board of the UN nuclear watchdog unanimously called on Iran yesterday to halt sensitive atomic work it resumed this week, a demand Tehran rejected as unacceptable and illegal.
The resolution adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) board of governors said Iran must resume full suspension of all nuclear fuel related activities and asked the agency to verify Tehran’s compliance.
Iran, which has denied Western accusations that its atomic program is a front for covert bomb-making, resumed work at its uranium conversion plant in Isfahan on Monday.
“The resolution on Iran was just adopted without a vote by consensus, full consensus. All 35 members of the board agreed the language of the resolution text,” IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters.
The IAEA board began meeting Tuesday but adjourned to allow the EU time to negotiate the Iran resolution with the board members. It reconvened yesterday to approve the draft after days of backroom negotiations on the text.
The resolution, drafted by Britain, Germany and France, requests IAEA chief Mohamed El-Baradei “to provide a comprehensive report on the implementation of Iran’s NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) Safeguards Agreement and this resolution by Sept. 3, 2005.”
The text did not say Iran should be referred to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions.
In spite of calls from the EU and the United States not to resume work at the Isfahan plant, Tehran on Wednesday broke the UN seals and made the facility fully operational.
Iran says it needs to develop nuclear power as an alternative energy source to meet booming electricity demand and keep its oil and gas reserves for export.
The resolution “urges Iran to re-establish full suspension of all enrichment related activities... and to permit the director general to reinstate the seals that have been removed at (Isfahan).”
EU diplomats said that, if Iran did not comply, they would ask the board to refer the matter to the Security Council in September.
Iran rejected the resolution as unacceptable. “Iran cannot accept this resolution,” Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, was quoted as saying by the semi-official students’ news agency ISNA.
The head of Iran’s delegation to the meeting, Sirus Naseri, said that in spite of the resolution, Iran would continue work at the Isfahan plant while observing IAEA safeguards aimed at preventing the diversion of uranium to covert weapons work.
“We will fully observe our obligations in our program of producing nuclear fuel,” Naseri said. “Iran will be a nuclear fuel producer and supplier within a decade.”
The United States said that the unanimous approval of the European resolution made it clear that the world was united on the issue of preventing Iran from getting the bomb.
Britain said the resolution gave Iran a chance to resolve the issue diplomatically.
“This sends a clear message to Iran on what it should do. We still believe there is a non-confrontational way forward, if Iran wants to take it,” a British Foreign Office spokesman said.
