AMMAN, 16 April 2007 — UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed El-Baradei called on Iran and Israel yesterday to join a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, after talks in Jordan with King Abdallah, the palace said.
“At the end of the day the Middle East should be a zone free of weapons of mass destruction, a zone in which Israel and Iran are both members,” Baradei said, according to a palace statement.
“This is the last chance to build security in the Middle East based on trust and cooperation and not the possession of nuclear weapons,” the International Atomic Energy Agency chief was quoted as saying.
Baradei said a peace deal between Israel and its Arab neighbors “must be reached in parallel with a security agreement in the region based on ridding the region of all weapons of mass destruction.” Israel is considered the sole, albeit undeclared, nuclear power in the region with an arsenal of around 200 warheads.
Iran is suspected by the West of using a nuclear energy program to try to develop atomic weapons, something Tehran vehemently denies.
Baradei also noted that “Arab countries have joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty while Israel hasn’t.” He said there was an “imbalance” in the nuclear capabilities of Israel and the Arab countries. Israel, he said, “has a nuclear deterrent force while all Arab countries have committed their programs to peaceful purposes.”
He reiterated calls for Iran “to cooperate with us with sufficient transparency until we make sure that the Iranian program is devoted to peaceful purposes.”
“We have not seen that this program is devoted to military purposes and we have not seen underground facilities,” he said. But he added: “There is fear over Iran’s future intentions, not today but within the next five to 10 years. “We still have plenty of time to solve this issue peacefully, the only way to solve the Iranian problem is through negotiations,” Baradei said, dismissing a military option concerning Iran as “unrealistic and disastrous.”
Baradei is in Jordan to discuss the country’s desire to obtain nuclear energy to generate electricity and for other peaceful means. Amman is the third leg of a tour that has taken him to Saudi Arabia and Oman.
“The IAEA is ready to help Jordan take advantage of nuclear energy for peaceful use,” Baradei said, according to a palace statement. “We will send an IAEA team next week to follow up on the project that Jordan will launch to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,” Baradei said without elaborating.
Officials had said that Jordan wanted a nuclear plant by 2015 to generate electricity, as well as to use nuclear technology in education and to desalinate water for the kingdom. Jordan imports 95 percent of its energy needs and is one of the 10 most water-impoverished countries in the world, with its annual water deficit exceeding 500 million cubic meters, according to official estimates.
Parliament will hold an extraordinary session on Wednesday to vote on draft laws submitted by the government, including one on the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, according to deputies.
In an interview last week the Jordanian king said Amman wanted “alternative energy sources that will help us alleviate the increasing burdens of importing energy amid rising fuel prices.”
“We in Jordan feel, as do other countries, the need to secure the transfer and establishment of nuclear energy technology as an alternative to importing oil for generating electricity and water desalination,” he said. “This will help us fulfill our energy needs,” the king said, adding that he would discuss the issue with Baradei.
