IAEA freezes nuke aid programs to Iran

Five permanent council members consult over additional sanctions on Teheran.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Iran Nuclear 224.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Iran Nuclear 224.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Delegates to a 35-nation meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday approved the suspension of nearly two dozen nuclear technical aid programs to Iran as part of UN sanctions imposed because of the country's nuclear defiance. The decision to deprive Iran of 22 projects was taken by consensus and was expected. Even nations on the IAEA board normally supportive of Iran backed the suspension because it was recommended by agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, on authority of the UN Security Council. "I have not heard anyone express dissatisfaction" with ElBaradei's recommendations, said Ramzy Ezzeidin Ramzy, Egypt's chief IAEA representative, before the decision, reflecting the meeting's widespread unanimity on the issue.
  • Lantos to propose tighter sanctions on Iran
  • Obama's message for Iran (March 6 editorial) The suspensions fell under the provision of UN Security Council sanctions agreed on December 23 to punish Iran for defying a council demand that it freeze its uranium enrichment activities. The five permanent council members now are consulting on additional sanctions after Teheran ignored a new ultimatum to stop enrichment last month. Council diplomats in New York said these could include a travel ban, an expanded list of people and companies subject to an asset freeze, an arms embargo and trade restrictions, but they cautioned that differences remained. While Iran says it has the legal right to develop an enrichment program to generate nuclear power, the Security Council has called on it to end such activities because of fears it could misuse the process to produce fissile material for warheads. Before the decision on technical aid, Iran's chief IAEA delegate, Ail Ashlar Soltanieh, accused the United States and Israel of threatening military attacks on its nuclear facilities and said Security Council sanctions against his country were illegal. Washington in turn criticized Teheran for ignoring Security Council demands to freeze uranium enrichment and said Iranian "intransigence" in answering questions about its nuclear program raises the level of concern that it might be seeking to make nuclear arms. Those comments, inside and on the sidelines of the meeting, came as part of a review of a report by ElBaradei that confirmed Iran had defied a Security Council deadline on enrichment last month. Soltanieh accused the US and Israel of "continuing to make threats against Iran's ... (nuclear) facilities." But he suggested that Teheran's nuclear program would survive any aggression, citing ElBaradei in declaring that nuclear "knowledge cannot be bombed." While not directly threatening attacks, both Israel and the US have not ruled out any option in trying to stop what they say is an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Soltanieh denied such aims, saying: "Weapons of mass destruction have no place in the Islamic Republic of Iran's defense doctrine." Iran steadfastly insists it is not interested in nuclear arms and wants to enrich uranium not to create the fissile core of warheads but to generate energy. Outside the meeting, he attributed international pressure on Iran to give up enrichment to "the poisonous food served up by a few (IAEA) members and sent to New York," to the Security Council. Reflecting the US stance, chief delegate Gregory L. Schulte accused Iran of ignoring "the serious international concerns expressed by the Security Council" in demanding a freeze of enrichment. Schulte also criticized Iran for continuing to build facilities that will produce plutonium - another possible pathway to nuclear arms - and thus again ignoring a Security Council demand. He cited ElBaradei in saying that his agency cannot conclude that Iran's program is peaceful unless Teheran stops stonewalling on questions posed by his agency. And he urged Teheran to reverse a ban on 38 IAEA inspectors, all from countries that back Security Council action against the Islamic republic. Also at the Vienna meeting, a letter from 17 Arab nations plus Palestinian authorities called for Israel to be put under agency inspections, asserting that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last year acknowledged that his country had nuclear weapons - something Olmert has denied doing.