Week 5: IRAN
EU ratchets up pressure on defiant Iran
Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:37 PM ET, By Louis Charbonneau
VIENNA (Reuters) - The EU turned up the pressure on Iran on Tuesday with a draft resolution reporting Tehran's nuclear programme to the U.N. Security Council, but Russia and China said the U.N. nuclear watchdog (IAEA) can handle the issue.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator reacted angrily, warning that Tehran might pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and resume uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for energy or bombs, if reported.
"If you use the language of force Iran will have no choice but to ... leave the framework of the NPT ... and to resume enrichment," Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told a news conference.
Although Iran resumed uranium processing at Isfahan last month, prompting the EU action, Tehran has yet to restart enrichment, the most sensitive part of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Larijani also said the world's fourth biggest oil producer may link other countries' access to its oil to whether they support Iran. Tehran says its nuclear programme is for generating electricity and denies seeking nuclear bombs.
The EU draft, obtained by Reuters, asks the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "to report to all members of the Agency and to the Security Council and General Assembly of the United Nations ... Iran's many failures and breaches of its obligations to comply with its NPT Safeguards Agreement".
Iran signed the NPT, the benchmark arms control treaty, in 1968. The IAEA is required to report breaches of the NPT to the Security Council, which can impose economic sanctions.
The United States and European Union suspect Iran's nuclear fuel programme, which it hid from the IAEA for 18 years, is a front for developing weapons.
Diplomats on the IAEA board, holding its quarterly meeting this week, said the EU draft had been informally distributed to the 35 IAEA board members and could be officially submitted to the board as early as Wednesday.
But the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers, at a meeting in New York attended by the Indian foreign minister, agreed that Iran's nuclear programme can be dealt with within the framework of the IAEA, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
"The ministers agreed that the situation surrounding
Iran's nuclear programme is not irreversible, and there remains every
possibility the problem can be resolved within the IAEA framework," the
foreign ministry said in a statement.
Opposition by
other countries like Brazil and South Africa also makes it more unclear whether
the IAEA board would vote on a resolution this week.
"They (the
EU) might just table the resolution but the board would take no action,"
another diplomat said, adding that the EU had 20 or 21 firm 'yes' votes out of
the 35 board members, far short of the overwhelming majority the Europeans would
like.
CONCERN ABOUT
ESCALATION:
Diplomats said the Russians and Chinese were concerned that the standoff
over Iran's nuclear programme would escalate out of control if it went to the
Security Council.
But a Western
diplomat told reporters that the 15-member Council, on which also France,
Britain and the United States are also permanent members, could handle it.
"We believe
the Security Council will effectively manage the situation," the diplomat
said on condition of anonymity.
He said Washington
and its European allies would use the Council's authority to increase the
pressure on Tehran to comply with the NPT and begin fully cooperating with the
IAEA.
U.S.
Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns said that in talks with foreign
officials, he found a "strong desire to signal to Iran this week that its
actions have not been accepted by the great majority of the international
community."
He said Iran had
become increasingly isolated after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
insisted in a speech to the U.N. this weekend on Iran's right to a nuclear
programme and denounced western attempts to curb it as "nuclear
apartheid".
"It was seen
to be a very harsh and uncompromising speech," Burns told Reuters.
The EU draft will
probably undergo revisions based on comments from Russia and China, as well as
South Africa and the other 13 board members from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM),
most of which oppose the idea of a Security Council referral.
The draft
resolution does not mention sanctions.
It does, however,
recommend that the Security Council urge Iran to allow the IAEA to inspect any
sites it wants to visit, whether or not Iran is legally bound to do so. It also
wants the Council to tell Iran to resume both talks with the EU and a freeze of
sensitive nuclear work that Tehran ended last month.
Responding to
Iran's repeated suggestion that a Security Council report was a prelude to
military action, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that was nonsense.
Larijani warned
countries with close economic ties with Iran that it would note any failure to
support it.
"Some
countries have extensive economic relations with Iran, especially in the oil
sector but feel no responsibility to defend the rights of an oppressed
nation. The Supreme National Security Council is determined to balance these two
issues."
Article 2:
UN nuclear watchdog meets on Iran
VIENNA (Reuters) - Sat Sep 24, 2005 8:26 AM ET By Louis Charbonneau
The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog was due to vote on Saturday on an EU resolution requiring Iran to be reported to the Security Council over what the West fears is a covert atomic weapons program.
Despite Iranian threats to begin enriching uranium if the resolution that could eventually lead to sanctions against the Islamic country is passed, the EU's top powers and Washington were confident it would be approved.
The meeting, which is due to begin at 1300 GMT, has widened the split between rich Western nations and poorer developing nations led by Russia, China, India and South Africa, which disagree with Washington and Europe on how to deal with Iran.
And diplomats said there was a possibility that Russia, China and other non-aligned members of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) 35-nation board might not show. The meeting needs two-thirds of the members present for a quorum.
But most said the simple majority needed for approval should be reached.
"We have a majority of votes, but no consensus. We tried to win over Russia, but did not succeed," an EU diplomat said. "Most likely they will vote against it."
Iran denies seeking atomic bombs and says its nuclear program is only for generating electricity. However, it concealed its atomic fuel program from the IAEA for 18 years.
Russia, which is building a $1 billion nuclear reactor at Bushehr in Iran and has much to gain from Iran's plans to develop atomic energy, is a fierce opponent of referring Iran's program to the Security Council.
China, which needs Iran's vast energy resources for its own booming economy, also opposes the Western drive against Iran.
Both countries fear a U.N. referral will cause the standoff
over Iran's program to escalate into an international crisis.
The EU resolution
requires Tehran to be reported to the Security Council, but at an unspecified
date -- watering down an earlier demand from the Europeans for an immediate
referral.
This means Iran
would most likely not be referred to the Council until the IAEA board meets in
November, diplomats say.
The resolution,
which diplomats said was prepared in close consultation with Washington, said
Iran's "many failures and breaches" of its nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) Safeguards Agreement "constitute non-compliance" with the
pact.
It added there was
an "absence of confidence" that Iran's atomic program was exclusively
peaceful and this gave rise to questions "within the competence of the
Security Council". (Able to be taken care of by or handled by the Security
Council 每 David)
For two years,
the EU's three biggest powers -- France, Britain and Germany -- have tried to
persuade Iran that it needed to abandon its enriched uranium fuel program to
convince the world that its atomic ambitions are peaceful.
Last month, the
talks collapsed after Tehran resumed uranium processing and rejected an EU offer
of economic and political incentives if it scrapped its uranium enrichment
program, prompting the EU trio to join Washington in calling for the case to be
sent to the Security Council.
IRANS REACTION:
Tehran has threatened to retaliate.
On Friday,
diplomats said the Iranian delegation had been showing some board members and
IAEA general director, Mohamed ElBaradei, two unsigned letters informing the
IAEA what would happen if the EU resolution is approved.
One letter said
that Iran would begin enriching uranium, a process that produces fuel for atomic
power plants or weapons, at an underground facility at Natanz. The second says
Tehran would end short-notice inspections under a special NPT protocol.
The head of South
Africa's delegation, Abdul Minty, said he did not like the EU resolution.
However, he also hoped Tehran would not limit U.N. inspections in any way.
"We hope they
don't do it," Minty told Reuters. "It's very important that the agency
is there on the ground (In Iran watching what they are doing 每 David)."
Turns up the
pressure 每 increase the
influence
Members not
show/no show/show up, go to
the meeting to vote, it＊s a form of protest to indicate disagreement.
Deal, deal with,
act together with, interact, something
with or to someone or something else.
Sanctions,
restrictions, like with hold food, trade or economic help.
Referral and
reported to the UN, steps to
sanctions.
Processing
uranium, Enriching uranium,
steps to get nuclear fuel/atomic fuel.
Draft
resolution 每 an initial
writing of a document, not the final, a
work in progress.
Tehran
每 the capital of Iran
Referral to the
UN Security Council. A step
in the process to getting action by the Council
UN Security
Council, The part of the
United Nations which deals with security issues.
NPT 每 Nuclear
Proliferation Treaty, About
1968 any nations agreed not to get or work on nuclear weapons
IAEA
每 International Atomic Energy Association,
The group that watches nations for nuclear matters for the United
Nations. Located
in VIENNA