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U.N. Agency Still Probing Iran's Enriched Uranium
Tue August 26, 2003 11:19 AM ET
By Louis Charbonneau
VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Tuesday in a confidential report that Iran has stepped up cooperation with the agency in recent months, but that it has been unable to confirm Tehran is not enriching uranium.
"Additional work ... is required to arrive at conclusions about Iran's statements that there have been no uranium enrichment activities in Iran involving nuclear material," the conclusion to the report, obtained by Reuters, said.
The agency confirmed in the report that it had found highly enriched uranium in environmental samples taken at a nuclear facility at Natanz as reported by Reuters last month. The uranium was weapons grade, diplomats said.
Enrichment is a process of purifying the uranium to make it useable in nuclear fuel -- or in weapons.
While the tone of the report's conclusions appeared more positive than the agency's June report, the IAEA said: "There remain a number of important outstanding issues, particularly with regard to Iran's enrichment program, that require urgent resolution."
Iran denies having enriched uranium itself and blamed the enriched particles on contaminated machinery purchased abroad. The IAEA said it was still working on its assessment of Iran's explanation for the weapons-grade uranium particles.
The United States, which branded Iran part of an "axis of evil" along with North Korea and pre-war Iraq, accuses Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons, a charge Iran vehemently denies.
The IAEA report also said that Iran had acknowledged it had carried out uranium conversion experiments in the early 1990s. This could be interpreted as a failure to report as required under its IAEA nuclear Safeguards Agreement.
In Tehran, the official news agency IRNA reported Iran's representative to the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) watchdog said Iran was ready to sign an Additional Protocol on snap inspections of its nuclear facilities.
Ali Akbar Salehi was also quoted as saying: "Iran would like to clarify some aspects regarding the preservation of its sovereignty due to the so-called 'undeclared inspections' that are envisioned by the Additional Protocol."
The IAEA described the move as positive, though a diplomat familiar with the agency said he doubted Iran was immediately ready to sign the protocol and said Tehran's position appeared unchanged.
"The decision by Iran to start the negotiations with the agency for the conclusion of an Additional Protocol is...a positive step," the IAEA report said.
In June, the IAEA issued a report that listed numerous examples of Iran's failure to report about its nuclear activities to the IAEA.
HEADING TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL?
A Western diplomat who had read the new Iran report said that he expected the United States would likely push to declare Iran in "non-compliance" with its Safeguards Agreement, a key addendum to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Iran has signed.
A verdict of "non-compliance" would require the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors, which will meet to discuss the report on September 8, to notify the U.N. Security Council.
"This IAEA report is much softer than the last one, but it is clear that Iran has been doing a lot of lying to the IAEA," the diplomat said.
The IAEA report did not accuse Iran of lying in the report, but said that agency inspectors had found that "information and access (in Iran) were at times slow in coming and incremental."
The IAEA also said that "some of the information was in contrast to that previously provided by Iran."
At the same time, the IAEA praised Iran because it "has demonstrated an increased degree of cooperation in relation to the amount and detail of information provided to the agency and in allowing access...to additional locations and the taking of associated environmental samples."
An IAEA spokesman said that the tone of the report was not soft but indicated "determined objectivity."
http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3338283
Tue August 26, 2003 11:19 AM ET
By Louis Charbonneau
VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Tuesday in a confidential report that Iran has stepped up cooperation with the agency in recent months, but that it has been unable to confirm Tehran is not enriching uranium.
"Additional work ... is required to arrive at conclusions about Iran's statements that there have been no uranium enrichment activities in Iran involving nuclear material," the conclusion to the report, obtained by Reuters, said.
The agency confirmed in the report that it had found highly enriched uranium in environmental samples taken at a nuclear facility at Natanz as reported by Reuters last month. The uranium was weapons grade, diplomats said.
Enrichment is a process of purifying the uranium to make it useable in nuclear fuel -- or in weapons.
While the tone of the report's conclusions appeared more positive than the agency's June report, the IAEA said: "There remain a number of important outstanding issues, particularly with regard to Iran's enrichment program, that require urgent resolution."
Iran denies having enriched uranium itself and blamed the enriched particles on contaminated machinery purchased abroad. The IAEA said it was still working on its assessment of Iran's explanation for the weapons-grade uranium particles.
The United States, which branded Iran part of an "axis of evil" along with North Korea and pre-war Iraq, accuses Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons, a charge Iran vehemently denies.
The IAEA report also said that Iran had acknowledged it had carried out uranium conversion experiments in the early 1990s. This could be interpreted as a failure to report as required under its IAEA nuclear Safeguards Agreement.
In Tehran, the official news agency IRNA reported Iran's representative to the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) watchdog said Iran was ready to sign an Additional Protocol on snap inspections of its nuclear facilities.
Ali Akbar Salehi was also quoted as saying: "Iran would like to clarify some aspects regarding the preservation of its sovereignty due to the so-called 'undeclared inspections' that are envisioned by the Additional Protocol."
The IAEA described the move as positive, though a diplomat familiar with the agency said he doubted Iran was immediately ready to sign the protocol and said Tehran's position appeared unchanged.
"The decision by Iran to start the negotiations with the agency for the conclusion of an Additional Protocol is...a positive step," the IAEA report said.
In June, the IAEA issued a report that listed numerous examples of Iran's failure to report about its nuclear activities to the IAEA.
HEADING TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL?
A Western diplomat who had read the new Iran report said that he expected the United States would likely push to declare Iran in "non-compliance" with its Safeguards Agreement, a key addendum to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Iran has signed.
A verdict of "non-compliance" would require the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors, which will meet to discuss the report on September 8, to notify the U.N. Security Council.
"This IAEA report is much softer than the last one, but it is clear that Iran has been doing a lot of lying to the IAEA," the diplomat said.
The IAEA report did not accuse Iran of lying in the report, but said that agency inspectors had found that "information and access (in Iran) were at times slow in coming and incremental."
The IAEA also said that "some of the information was in contrast to that previously provided by Iran."
At the same time, the IAEA praised Iran because it "has demonstrated an increased degree of cooperation in relation to the amount and detail of information provided to the agency and in allowing access...to additional locations and the taking of associated environmental samples."
An IAEA spokesman said that the tone of the report was not soft but indicated "determined objectivity."
http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3338283