VIENNA: Developing nations at the UN nuclear watchdog are backing Iran in its push for a ban on military attacks targeting nuclear facilities, a letter to the Vienna-based agency showed on Wednesday.
Israel, which along with Western powers fears Iran’s declared civilian nuclear energy program is a front for bomb-making, has not ruled out military action to prevent Tehran acquiring atom bombs and threatening the Jewish state.
The Iranian proposal would require a simple majority for passage. Iran will propose the ban at the annual meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 150 member nations next month.
In a letter to IAEA chief Mohamed El-Baradei, Egypt said Iran had the backing of the 118 nations in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a bloc which emphasizes Iran’s right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to develop a civilian atomic program. Iran is a member of NAM.
IAEA member states have passed several resolutions, the latest in 1990 and also proposed by Iran, which ban “any armed attack on and threat against (peaceful) nuclear facilities.” But Iran says a legally binding resolution is now needed because Israel had broken such bans in the past. In 1981, an Israeli airstrike destroyed Iraq’s only nuclear reactor. Two years ago, Israel bombed a site in Syria that US intelligence officials said was a North Korean-designed nuclear reactor under construction. Syria denies this. Western diplomats said Iran’s initiative grew from a wish to turn the spotlight away from its nuclear activities, rather than a genuine concern about safety and security of nuclear sites. They fear it will trigger long and heated debates at the General Conference and overshadow more pressing issues.
