Bloomberg August 12, 2005
UN Referral for Iran Nuclear Program Is `Next Step,' U.S. Says
By Aaron Sheldrick and Jonathan Tirone
Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government said it will refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council unless it halts its uranium processing program, after the Iranian government rejected calls from a nuclear watchdog to stop the work.
Iran rejected a resolution from the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency urging it to freeze the uranium processing, which it restarted on Aug. 8, and vowed to become a nuclear fuel exporter within the next decade.
``If Iran doesn't take the steps described in the resolution, we would expect that the next step would be referral to the Security Council,'' Adam Ereli, deputy State Department spokesman, said yesterday at a press briefing in Washington.
The resolution ``expresses serious concern'' and ``urges Iran to re-establish full suspension of all enrichment related activities'' and allow the IAEA to put back seals on equipment at a plant in central Iran, according to the text. U.S. opposition to Iran's program is driven by concern that nuclear materials might be handed to terrorist groups.
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei was requested to report on Iran's compliance by Sept. 3 under the resolution. French, German and U.K. diplomats wrote the measure.
Yesterday's resolution ``is a vote of no-confidence in the agency,'' said the Middle Eastern country's chief delegate to the IAEA in Vienna, Cyrus Nasseri, at a press conference today in Vienna. ``It is absurd.''
`Dangerous Course'
The U.S. and its European allies want to stop Iran from pursuing research efforts that may lead to the building of a nuclear weapon.
The document ``shows that the international community is united in determining that Iran move off the dangerous course that it is on,'' said the U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, Greg Schulte.
Iran implemented a voluntary freeze on its uranium processing in November. The IAEA asked it to suspend developing the nuclear fuel cycle in order to ``build confidence'' among member states that its program was for peaceful purposes only. Iran has in the past given false information to UN inspectors about its atomic program.
Iranian officials on Aug. 10 removed UN seals on equipment used in uranium enrichment at a facility in Isfahan. Isfahan is the site of Iran's largest nuclear research center, employing as many as 3,000 scientists, and may be the primary location of Iran's nuclear weapons program, according to the Web site of the defense research organization GlobalSecurity.org.
The three European allies of the U.S. have been conducting negotiations with Iran on limiting its enrichment program, a process that produces the material to fuel a nuclear power plant or bomb. The U.S. government, which has no formal diplomatic ties with Iran, hasn't officially joined the talks.
Fuel Plans
Iran, the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, will develop its nuclear fuel capability for future exports, Nasseri said yesterday. The country will continue converting raw uranium into uranium hexafluoride gas at its Isfahan plant, Nasseri said. Iran will keep its enrichment facility in Natanz, south of Tehran, closed for now, he said.
``We'd like to be a supplier of energy as we are in oil and gas as well,'' Nasseri said.
ElBaradei yesterday confirmed that Isfahan was under agency observation with inspectors on the ground. The plant, located in central Iran, isn't capable of enriching uranium, according to the IAEA.
``Whether Iran resumes full suspension is up to Iran to decide,'' said ElBaradei, a 63-year-old former Egyptian diplomat. ``There's a window of opportunity to regulate the situation.''
The IAEA resolution also urged Iran to continue negotiating with the EU-3 to overcome the current impasse. The director general was ``encouraged by statements'' that talks would continue.
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