Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to
remove surveillance cameras and agency seals from sites and nuclear
equipment by the end of next week in response to referral to the UN
Security Council, the agency said Monday.
Iran's demands came two days after the IAEA reported Tehran to
the council over its disputed atomic program.
In a confidential report to the IAEA's 35-member board, agency
head Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran also announced a sharp reduction
in the number and kind of inspections IAEA experts will be allowed,
effective immediately.
The report was dated Monday and made available to The Associated
Press.
The moves were expected. Iranian officials had repeatedly warned
they would stop honoring the so-called "Additional Protocol" to the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty — an agreement giving IAEA
inspectors greater authority — if the IAEA board referred their
country to the council.
A diplomat close to the Vienna-based IAEA told the AP that Iran
had also moved forward on another threat — formally setting a date
for resuming full-scale work on its uranium enrichment program.
Iran says it wants to make fuel through enrichment, but the
activity can also generate the nuclear core of warheads.
The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the
matter was confidential, refused to divulge the date set by Ali
Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, in a letter received
Monday by ElBaradei.
In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Secretary-General Kofi Annan
said he was still hopeful that Iran will take confidence-building
measures with the IAEA.
"It's not the end of the road," Annan said of the Security
Council referral. "I hope that in between, Iran will take steps
that will help create an environment and confidence-building
measures that will bring the partners back to the negotiating
table."
In his brief report, ElBaradei cited E. Khalilipour, vice
president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, as saying:
"From the date of this letter, all voluntarily suspended
non-legally binding measures including the provisions of the
Additional Protocol and even beyond that will be suspended."
Calling on the agency to sharply reduce the number of inspectors
in Iran, Khalilipour added: "All the Agency's containment and
surveillance measures which were in place beyond the normal Agency
safeguards measures should be removed by mid-February 2006."
Earlier, Russia's foreign minister warned against threatening
Iran after Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld reportedly agreed
with an interviewer at the German daily newspaper Handelsblatt that
all options, including military response, remained on the
table.
"That's right," Rumsfeld reportedly responded.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for talks to continue with
Tehran, adding: "I think that at the current stage, it is important
not to make guesses about what will happen and even more important
not to make threats."
Lavrov said the use of force would be possible only if the
United Nations consented.
US Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, urged the Security Council to impose strict sanctions on
Iran if it fails to comply with UN resolutions and arms agreements
and warned that inaction would greatly increase the chances of
military conflict. He nonetheless stressed that the United States
favors a diplomatic solution.
"Diplomatic and economic confrontations are preferable to
military ones," Lugar said. But he cautioned that "in the field of
nonproliferation, decisions delayed over the course of months and
years may be as harmful as no decisions at all."
The Additional Protocol was signed by Iranian officials in 2003
as pressure intensified on Tehran to cooperate with IAEA inspectors
probing more than 18 years of clandestine nuclear activities. But
it was never ratified by parliament.
The protocol gives the agency inspecting powers beyond normal,
allowing for inspections on short notice of areas and of programs
suspected of being misused for weapons activity.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said they will continue
honoring the Nonproliferation Treaty. Still, the agreements linked
to that treaty are insufficient for agency inspectors trying to
establish whether Iran has had a secret nuclear arms program.
Unless Iran relents, the move to curtail voluntary cooperation
means that ElBaradei will be stymied in trying to close the Iran
nuclear file by March. And that could backfire on Tehran.
Russia and China agreed to Security Council referral on
condition that the council take no action until March, when the
IAEA board next meets. But if ElBaradei reports to that March 6
meeting that he was unable to make progress in establishing whether
Iran constitutes a nuclear threat, the council will likely start to
pressure Iran, launching a process that could end in UN economic or
political sanctions.
(Chinadaily.com via agencies February 7, 2006)
