Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=11-13-03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=U-S-IRAN NUCLEAR (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-309802

BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST

DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The Bush administration says it is consulting with other members of the International Atomic Energy Agency's governing board on how to deal with a report by the I-A-E-A that it has found no evidence that Iran has a secret nuclear weapons program. The State Department's top arms control official, John Bolton, says the U-N agency's finding is "simply impossible to believe." VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

TEXT: Officials here say the Bush administration is not about to change its long-held view that Iran has a covert weapons program, and is consulting with allies on the 35-member I-A-E-A board to discuss how to proceed in the wake of what is seen here as a surprising and equivocal report by agency investigators.

The report, released on Monday, accused Iran of conducting two decades of covert nuclear activities including enriching uranium and separating plutonium. But it never-the-less said there was no evidence Iran has been trying to build a nuclear weapon.

The document, written in advance of a critical meeting on the I-A-E-A board next week, drew an incredulous response from Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs John Bolton.

In a Washington speech late Wednesday, Mr. Bolton said the report's conclusion was "simply impossible to believe," and that the covert activities documented in the report "can only be" an attempt to develop materials for nuclear weapons.

At a news briefing, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli sounded a milder tone, saying the I-A-E-A staff had done "valuable work" and the Bolton speech was not a "wholesale indictment" of the U-N agency.

He said U-S officials were studying the report and would consult with colleagues on the I-A-E-A board on how to proceed. But under questioning, he also said he was not contradicting Mr. Bolton's assessment:

///Ereli actuality///

Let's just leave it at this: that we believe that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, that we've believed it for some time, and that senior officials of this administration, including Secretary (of State) Powell have been making that clear for some time. And in that sense, what Undersecretary Bolton said last night is perfectly consistent with that position.

///end act///

The Iranian nuclear issue was among those on the agenda Thursday in a meeting here between Secretary of State Powell and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Mr. Straw counseled in advance of the meeting for a "calm" reaction to the I-A-E-A report, saying that while Iran had concealed nuclear activities in the past, it has been providing considerable cooperation to the U-N agency of late.

A State Department official who spoke to reporters said the I-A-E-A report appeared to be written in a way to offer something to both sides in the debate over Iran's nuclear program: on the one hand listing numerous violations by Iran of its international nuclear commitments, but stopping short of accusing Tehran of trying to build nuclear weapons.

The I-A-E-A board, when it convenes for a two-day meeting in Vienna next Thursday, could refer Iranian violations of nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty safeguards to the U-N Security Council for possible sanctions.

Despite Mr. Bolton's tough remarks Wednesday night, the official said he did not think the Bush administration has decided whether to press for a referral of the matter to the United Nations. (Signed)

NEB/DAG/PT/FC