Headlines/Archives
Mobile
RSSIranian documents 'show how to make nuclear warheads'
The European Union today accused Iran of having documents that serve no other purpose than showing how to produce nuclear warheads and warned it could be hauled up before the UN Security Council.
Britain, in a statement on behalf of the European Union, offered new negotiations meant to defuse tensions over Tehran’s insistence that it must be in full control of uranium enrichment – a possible pathway to nuclear arms.
“But Iran should not conclude that this window of opportunity will remain open in all circumstances,” said a statement read by Peter Jenkins, the chief British delegate to the IAEA, outside a closed meeting of the agency’s 35-nation board.
Diplomats described the statement as a veiled threat of Security Council referral.
An earlier statement made available to The Associated Press was even more direct.
“Failure to make progress” on easing international concerns about Iran’s nuclear program “will hasten the day when the board decides that a report to the Security Council must be made,” said that statement, which was toned down before being delivered to the media.
In comments both to media and inside the closed board meeting, Jenkins focused on new revelations contained in a report drawn up for the board meeting by IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei, including a finding showing the Iranians in possession of what appeared to be drawings of the core of an atomic warhead.
In his statement to the board, also made available, Jenkins said that the documents have “no other application than the production of nuclear warheads".
“This reinforces earlier concerns aroused by possible indications of Iranian weaponisation activity,” he told the board, alluding to a series of findings over the past three years by IAEA experts suggesting that Iran may have experimented with procedures meant to make nuclear weapons.
The main issue is Iran’s refusal to give up its right to enrichment, which can be used to generate power but also to make weapons-grade material for nuclear warheads. Iran says it wants only to make fuel, but international concern is growing that the program could be misused.
A plan floated in recent weeks foresees moving any Iranian enrichment plan to Russia. There, in theory, Moscow would supervise the process to make sure enrichment is only to fuel levels.
But Iran insists it wants to master the complete fuel cycle domestically. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday that, while his country was willing to resume formal talks with key European powers on its nuclear program, “naturally we aim to have enrichment on Iran’s territory".
Currently, Iran’s enrichment program is frozen. But negotiations between Iran and France, Britain and Germany – the so-called “EU-3” – broke off in August after Iran restarted a linked activity – the conversion of raw uranium into the gas that is used as the feed stock in enrichment.
In his statement to the board, Jenkins said the EU “deplores the fact that Iran has yet again failed to heed” international calls to maintain the conversion freeze.
Suggesting that Security Council referral depended on Iranian cooperation, he urged Tehran to “refrain from any further unilateral move which could aggravate the situation and to re-engage in serious discussions”.
While the Americans and Europeans publicly insist they want a negotiated solution with Iran on enrichment, they have acknowledged in background conversations that they would expect additional support from nations now opposed to Security Council referral if Tehran continues to dig in its heels.
In a sign that some of those key nations were now listening to US and European concerns, American and European officials have divulged that Washington and its European allies are gradually enlisting Chinese support on how to deal with Iran and its suspicious nuclear activities.
Beijing’s backing would add additional clout to an ambitious international Iran strategy that recently has seen Russia join the Americans and Europeans in pressuring Iran to give up technology that could make nuclear arms.
For months, Iran has relied on Beijing and Moscow to fend off a US-backed push to have it hauled before the UN. Security Council.
A European official said that “the Chinese are very, very constructive and on board with the (US)-European position” – engaging Iran on giving up uranium enrichment, while indirectly keeping the possibility of Security Council action alive.
In Beijing today, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters that his country did not think “it is appropriate now to refer this question to the UN Security Council.”
But diplomats inside the closed board meeting noted comments by the Chinese delegation were indirectly critical. A Chinese statement called on Iran to create “favourable conditions” for a return to negotiations and urged it to act to “regain the confidence” of the world, one of them said.
ElBaradei, in comments to the board meeting in Vienna, suggested, he, too, opposed referral, for now, calling for “robust verification” of Iranian nuclear activities, combined with “active dialogue”.
