U.S. Toning Down Criticism of Iran Nukes

[Kev]

U.S. Toning Down Criticism of Iran Nukes

A

U.S. Toning Down Criticism of Iran Nukes
Tue Mar 9, 4:49 PM ET

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer

VIENNA, Austria - Accepting painful compromises, the United States agreed with key European nations on Tuesday to tone down criticism of Iran for its continued nuclear secrecy.


Washington also accepted a draft resolution containing some praise of Tehran's willingness to open its nuclear programs to outside inspection.


Both sides signed off on the draft document prepared for a high-level conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency after days of grueling negotiations aimed at finding the proper mix of praise and criticism.


The United States insists Iran is interested in making nuclear weapons. Washington wanted the meeting to condemn Iran for not fully living up to pledges to reveal all past and present nuclear activities while keeping open options for future involvement by the U.N. Security Council.


France, Germany and Britain, however, wanted to focus on Iranian cooperation with the IAEA that began only after the discovery last year that Tehran had plans to enrich uranium and secretly conducted other tests with possible weapons applications over nearly two decades.


IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters negotiations continued on final language. The text of the document still must be approved by all 35 nations of the IAEA board of governors.


But with the trans-Atlantic rift resolved, the greatest hurdle to agreement on Iran appeared to be out of the way.


The compromise reflected the obstacles faced by Washington in its effort to deal harshly with Iran.


When the issue first came up before the board last year, the United States pushed to have Tehran called before the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions, arguing that Iran had violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.


But it has been repeatedly forced to back down in the face of widespread resistance at the board. The consensus text, made available to the Associated Press Tuesday, made no direct mention of the Security Council.


The text criticizes Iran for not fully living up to its pledge to be completely open about past and present nuclear activities.


It "notes with the most serious concern that ... (past) declarations made by Iran ... did not amount to the correct, complete and final picture of Iran's past and present nuclear program."


The text also slams Iran for "failing to resolve all questions" about uranium enrichment, which can be used to make weapons, saying the agency "deplores" the lapse.


But it praises Iran for signing an agreement throwing open its nuclear programs to full and pervasive IAEA perusal and "recognizes" Iran's cooperation with agency investigations, even while calling on Iran to "intensify its cooperation."


In Tehran, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said he hoped the IAEA ultimately would come to agree with Iran's assertion that all its nuclear activities are "for peaceful purposes."


The rift over Iran had led to unusual strains between Washington and its key European allies. U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton complained in a letter sent to the French, German and British governments that their stance was hurting the common effort to get Iran to comply with its promises for full nuclear disclosure, diplomats told The Associated Press.


"That, of course resulted in some pretty harsh words in reply," to Washington, a senior European diplomat told AP.



In Washington Tuesday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters that the board should "state clearly that Iran has not yet addressed fully the long-standing concerns about its nuclear activities.

"We need to send a strong signal to Tehran that it cannot refuse to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency with impunity."

Besides Iran, Libya is also on the agenda, with ElBaradei describing both nations as being in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

But with Libya acting on pledges made last year to scrap its programs for weapons of mass destruction, the focus at the meeting was on Iran.

In an IAEA report last month, Tehran was accused of continuing to hide evidence of nuclear experiments, leaving it to agency inspectors to unearth them. The dossier dealt Iran a setback in its efforts to convince the world that its nuclear program is peaceful and that it is fully cooperating with the U.N. agency.

The report mentioned finds of traces of polonium, a radioactive element that can be used in nuclear weapons and expressed concerns with the discovery of a previously undisclosed advanced P-2 uranium centrifuge system — a finding that the U.S. administration said raises "serious concerns" about Tehran's intentions.

Iran has insisted its interest in uranium enrichment is only geared at generating power and not to arm warheads. To show good will, it has suspended its enrichment program and has also allowed IAEA inspectors broad access to its nuclear programs.

While praising Tehran for some cooperation, ElBaradei said he was "seriously concerned" about Iran's refusal to declare plans and parts for the P-2 enrichment system, calling it a "setback to Iran's stated policy of transparency."

In contrast to the mixed review of Iran, a draft resolution on Libya is generally complimentary.

The draft, which also was provided to the AP, expresses "deep satisfaction," with Tripoli's openness, "welcomes the active cooperation," exhibited by Libya, and "congratulates" it for accepting full and intrusive IAEA inspections.

"There is no case to keep Libya on the agenda," Chief Libyan delegate Giuma Ferjani told the AP. Libya was scheduled to sign an agreement with the agency on Wednesday, opening its nuclear program to full IAEA perusal.

Iran, too, insists it wants its nuclear dossier closed — something ElBaradei has said would not happen until all suspicions about past experiments are dispelled and future openness is assured.

Any opinons on this?

[Oh Jerusalem]

Originally posted by Kev
[Accepting painful compromises, the United States agreed with key European nations on Tuesday to tone down criticism of Iran for its continued nuclear secrecy.

But everone else knows:

Iran Will Resume Uranium Enrichment
1 hour, 28 minutes ago

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran said Wednesday it would resume uranium enrichment for civilian purposes once its problems with the International Atomic Energy Agency were resolved. Iran's defense minister also said its military had built low-level nuclear centrifuges primarily for civilian use.

"It's our legitimate right to enrich uranium," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said after a Cabinet meeting. "We suspended uranium enrichment voluntarily and temporarily. Later, when our relations with the IAEA returns to normal, we will definitely resume enrichment."

He warned European partners Iran could end nuclear cooperation if they fail to support Tehran.

The comments by both ministers came as a key meeting of the U.N. atomic agency in Vienna moved closer to agreement Wednesday, after the United States and key European powers agreed to praise Tehran's increased openness about its nuclear programs but also criticize it for continuing to hide some suspicious activities.

Undeclared uranium enrichment by Iran was one of the reasons behind an IAEA probe of Iran's nuclear facilities. The United States insists Iran be declared in breach of its international agreements, including uranium enrichment and plutonium processing. U.S. officials say those activities point to a nuclear weapons agenda.

Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said Iran's military industries, which also build parts and machinery for the civil sector, had produced the relatively unsophisticated P-1 centrifuges, which are used for low-grade uranium enrichment. But he said Iran had not been involved in producing more advanced P-2 models, used in producing weapons-grade enriched uranium.

Shamkhani's comments were the first suggestion by any senior Iranian official that the military has been involved in at least some aspects of the nuclear program.

"It is no secret. We have produced P-1, not P-2, contrary to U.S. allegations," Shamkhani said, when asked if the military was involved in any nuclear production.

"It's natural in the world that defense industries produce civilian parts. We in the defense industries produce parts for civilian planes, vehicle parts and even television sets," he said.

"We have also produced some parts for Iran's nuclear energy program including P-1," he said.

Iran has acknowledged having thousands of the less-advanced P-1 centrifuges, but the IAEA has questioned Iran on blueprints in its possession for the more advanced equipment.

Iran has always maintained that its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes, and does not have any military applications. It told the IAEA that the blueprints never got off the research stage.

In the draft, United States compromised with Britain, France and Germany to tone down criticism of Iran's continued nuclear secrecy and give some praise of Tehran's willingness to open its programs to outside perusal.

Kharrazi also warned that Iran could end nuclear cooperation, and called on its European partners to resist U.S. pressure at the Vienna meeting.

"We recommend the three European countries to remain committed to their obligations (toward Tehran) and resist U.S. pressures if they want the project of cooperation between Iran and them to lead to results," Kharrazi said.

He warned that Iran would stop cooperating with the three nations if they fail to support Iran.

"Cooperation is a two way street. If they don't fulfill their obligations, there is no reason for us to cooperate," he said.

The draft made available to The Associated Press noted "with the most serious concern" that past declarations made by Iran "did not amount to the correct, complete and final picture of Iran's past and present nuclear program."

It criticized Iran for "failing to resolve all questions" about uranium enrichment, which can be used to make weapons, saying it "deplores" this lapse.

Kharrazi accused the IAEA of giving in to U.S. pressure.

"The U.S. wants to use every opportunity to pressure Iran and pursues its own strategy. Despite the fact that we have offered maximum cooperation with the IAEA ... unfortunately, the agency is sometimes influenced by the U.S., while it should maintain its technical and professional identity," Kharrazi said.

The United States insists Iran wants to make nuclear weapons and wanted the meeting to condemn it for not fully living up to pledges to reveal all past and present nuclear activities. But the Europeans wanted to focus on Iranian cooperation that began after the discovery last year that Tehran had plans to enrich uranium and secretly conducted other tests with possible weapons applications over nearly two decades.

An enrichment program would be necessary for producing nuclear weapons, which Iran repeatedly has said is not its intent. Low-enriched uranium is used as a fuel for electricity generating in nuclear power plants.