IAEA chief urges Iran to clear up nukes allegations
VIENNA (AFP) — The UN's atomic watchdog pressed Iran on Monday to clear up allegations that it was involved in covert nuclear weapons work as the UN Security Council prepared to tighten sanctions on Tehran.
"I urge Iran to be as active and as cooperative as possible in working with the agency to clarify this matter of serious concern," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohammed ElBaradei said.
"This is necessary to enable the agency to make a determination about the nature and scope of all of Iran's past nuclear activities," ElBaradei told the IAEA's 35-member board of governors at the start of its regular March meeting.
While North Korea's stalled disarmament process was also on the agenda for the next few days, it was Iran that was expected to dominate proceedings following the release of ElBaradei's latest report on Tehran's disputed atomic drive.
The UN Security Council was expected to approve further sanctions against Iran later Monday over its refusal to halt sensitive uranium enrichment, which can be used to make the fissile material for an atomic bomb.
The focus of the Iranian debate is likely to be recent intelligence, shown to the IAEA board last week, suggesting Tehran was involved in military research that pointed to the development of non-conventional weapons.
The intelligence -- collected from a number of different independent sources -- covered a uranium conversion project, high explosives tests and a missile re-entry vehicle modified to accommodate what could be a nuclear warhead.
The information further suggested Iran continued nuclear weapons work beyond the 2003 date cited in a recent US intelligence report.
Tehran has dismissed the allegations as baseless and the intelligence used to back them as fake.
"Iran continues to maintain that these alleged weaponisation studies related to conventional weapons only or are fabricated. However a full-fledged examination of this issue has yet to take place," ElBaradei said.
The IAEA chief said it was "regrettable" that Iran had not suspended its enrichment activities in line with Security Council resolutions and was continuing its work on more advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges.
"I continue to call upon Iran to work with the Security Council to meet its requirements for building the necessary confidence about Iran's future nuclear activities," he said.
For his part, Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh claimed the weaponisation allegations were "politically motivated."
The alleged studies covered activities that were not strictly nuclear and therefore did not fall under IAEA jurisdiction. The agency therefore risked being "politicised," Soltanieh warned.
From Tehran's point of view, all outstanding questions about its nuclear activities had been resolved and the peaceful nature of the programme proven, Soltanieh said.
The ambassador warned that Iran would react to further UN sanctions with measures of its own, without specifying further.
But he insisted that Iran would continue to cooperate with the IAEA, even in face of additional sanctions.
According to diplomats here, the IAEA is considering a possible resolution of its own, pressing Tehran to clear up the weaponisation allegations.
Such a resolution -- the first in two years -- would make it very clear that the Iranian nuclear dossier was far from being closed, one diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Monday's board meeting, the US envoy to the IAEA, Gregory Schulte, said joint UN and IAEA pressure was warranted.
"Between the indications of weapons work, which would constitute a violation of Iran's NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) obligations, and Iran's blatant violation of Security Council resolutions, there is strong reason for Iran's file to remain open, both in New York and in Vienna," Schulte said.
