Share this story!            

IAEA to report Iran to UNSC tomorrow

* No action will be taken until March
* Iran says its referral will be ‘illegal’
* IAEA confirms Iran preparing for nuclear enrichment

LONDON: The five permanent UN Security Council members agreed on Tuesday to bring Iran before the council over its disputed nuclear programme, but in a compromise with Russia will put off UN action until at least March.

A senior US State Department official hailed the move as a breakthrough as it was the “first time in two years that you have all the members of the permanent five giving the same message to Iran”. This means that Iran “can’t depend on Russia and China to block action” at the Security Council, which can impose sanctions.

The joint statement said that six countries – the P-5 of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany – agreed that the UN nuclear watchdog “should report to the Security Council its decision on the steps required of Iran” when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meets in Vienna on Thursday.

Meanwhile, an interim IAEA report confirmed on Tuesday that Iran had begun preparing for nuclear enrichment, which can make fuel for bombs, and had continued to hinder a probe of unanswered questions about its atomic aims.

Iran responded by saying that there was no legal basis to send nuclear case to the council and that it would not bow to demands it halt atomic research and development. “There is no legal basis to refer Iran’s case to the council and the Europeans will face difficulties doing so,” Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, said in an interview with ISNA.

Iran says that its nuclear programme is a peaceful effort to generate electricity, but Europe and the United States believe it may be a cover for developing atomic weapons. The joint statement from the big five came after a tense four-hour dinner on Monday hosted by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in London that spilled over past midnight, as the West worked on convincing key Iranian ally and trade partner Russia, which has resisted taking Iran to the Security Council, as well as China to unite in sending a strong signal to Iran.

Russia won a key concession, however, as the statement said that the major powers agreed that the Security Council “should await the (IAEA) director general’s report to the March meeting of the IAEA board before deciding to take action to reinforce the authority of the IAEA process”.

The Security Council can issue warnings or impose sanctions as punitive measures in its role as an enforcement body. The US is said to have realised that in diplomacy “you give a little and take a little”. “The action is transferred to New York,” the official said, about the Iranian dossier going to the Security Council. “In diplomacy, you take it one step at a time. The real issue was getting to the Security Council,” the official said.

The statement said that the IAEA “should also report to the Security Council all IAEA reports and resolutions as adopted”, which include findings of non-compliance with international safeguards that clear the way to UN action.

The official said that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had gone into the dinner with the five other nations feeling “that Iran had to be referred to the UN Security Council, that temporising had gone on too long”. A Western official said: “Now the ball is really in Iran’s court.” An angry Iranian reaction cutting off cooperation or pushing ahead with nuclear fuel work could guarantee UN action while Iranian compliance with IAEA demands to cease such work which makes reactor fuel but also bomb material and to cooperate with IAEA inspectors could defuse the situation.

Meanwhile Javad Vaeedi, deputy head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Iran had no intention of backing down. “Research and development is the Iranian nation’s legitimate right and is irreversible,” he told state television. Both Iranian officials stressed that Tehran was willing to continue negotiations to avoid a Security Council showdown. agencies

Home | Main

Share this story!