The governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency could this week consider a resolution criticizing Iran over its nuclear operations, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 24).
(Nov. 25) -
Mohamed ElBaradei, shown speaking to reporters in Berlin last week, is expected tomorrow to give his final formal statement on Iran's nuclear activities as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (John MacDougall/Getty Images).
The two-day session beginning Thursday in Vienna, Austria, will also be the last for Mohamed ElBaradei as head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog. He is set to be replaced next month by Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano (see GSN, Sept. 15).
It has been close to four years since the 35-state board to the U.N. nuclear watchdog has voted on such a resolution. However, concerns about Tehran's nuclear intentions have been heightened by the nation's acknowledgment in September that it was secretly building a second uranium enrichment site and its apparent rejection of a plan for foreign refinement of its low-enriched uranium.
Six world powers -- China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- are expected to submit a resolution to the board. Reports have indicated it would call on Tehran to expand its nuclear transparency, allow increased IAEA scrutiny of its atomic operations and halt uranium enrichment, among other steps (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Nov. 25).
"There was a strong measure of agreement at the P5+1 meeting in Brussels last week that the [enrichment facility] revelation was a serious new development," one high-level diplomat told Reuters.
Uranium enrichment can produce nuclear power plant fuel as well as nuclear-weapon material. Western nations have expressed deep skepticism about Iran's assertion that its program has no military component.
Tehran has said the Qum site was a backup in case of an attack on its primary enrichment facility at Natanz. Observers have argued that the second facility is only large enough to produce enough uranium for a weapons program (Mark Heinrich, Reuters, Nov. 24).
It remains to be seen whether most board members would sign off on the resolution, one diplomat told AFP. The six nations might simply choose to present the document without calling for a vote.
Involvement by Beijing and Moscow in preparing the resolution is seen as notable, as the two powers have generally resisted efforts to enact strong punishments against Iran for its nuclear intransigence.
ElBaradei appears set to address the nuclear standoff in his opening statement to the board tomorrow.
While the meeting is expected to focus on Iran, the board is also expected to consider the nuclear programs of Syria and North Korea and a plan for a nuclear fuel bank put forward by Russia, AFP reported (Agence France-Presse I).
Russia yesterday played down the likelihood of additional sanctions against Iran, saying it expected the Middle Eastern state to accept the uranium deal, AFP reported.
Tehran initially expressed support for the deal prepared by ElBaradei, but has since offered mixed messages. Officials said this week that they would accept only an exchange of low-enriched uranium for a higher-enriched mix within their nation's borders.
"We are counting on a quick positive response from Tehran. Therefore the question of adopting special sanctions is not relevant," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, Nov. 24).
Experts, though, say that Russia has been trying to press Iran into cooperation by slowing completion of the Bushehr nuclear reactor and failing to complete an order of advanced S-300 air-defense technology, the Financial Times reported.
“Russia is more and more upset with Iran after Iran’s brutal rejection of the nuclear proposal which was based on a Russian proposal in which Moscow itself was supposed to play a significant role,” said a top Western diplomat. “The regime took the risk of upsetting Russia which is less compromising than before.”
“Our work (in the Bushehr nuclear plant) is going ahead very well with Russia, but westerners are trying to fan misunderstandings because they do not want to see Iran and Russia having good political relations,” countered Ali Akbar Salehi, who leads the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (Najmeh Bozorgmehr, Financial Times, Nov. 24).
A key Iranian lawmaker today referred to the uranium proposal as a U.S. trick, AFP reported.
"If we analyze the role of the United States in the Iranian nuclear issue, it turns out that there was a trick in this proposal. They felt that they can politically cheat" Iran, said Ali Larijani, speaker of Iran's parliament and the nation's former top nuclear negotiator.
"One should not fall for U.S. smiles and tactics. Americans sometimes talk about peace and sometimes they smile at the Islamic republic's officials ... but they have hidden daggers behind themselves," he told the official Iranian news agency (Agence France-Presse III/Yahoo!News, Nov. 25).
U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday sent a letter to his Brazilian counterpart addressing Iran's nuclear activities, the New York Times reported.
The letter came one day ahead of the meeting between Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It suggested that Lula during the meeting should show his backing for diplomacy on the nuclear standoff, two U.S. officials said.
The Brazilian president during the meeting said that Tehran must be allowed to conduct civil nuclear energy operations (Alexei Barrionuevo, New York Times, Nov. 25).