02 February 2006
International Atomic Energy Agency Discussing Iran Nuclear Issue
Diplomats say further action will depend on IAEA decision
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- Meeting to plan the agenda for the month of February, Security Council President Ambassador John Bolton of the United States said February 2 that the 15-nation council will not discuss the issue of Iran's nuclear program until it receives word from the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria.
The 35-nation IAEA board of governors is holding a two-day special meeting at the request of France, Germany and the United Kingdom to discuss the implementation of the IAEA safeguards in Iran. The board is considering a draft resolution sponsored by the three European nations that would report the issue to the U.N. Security Council in New York.
A vote is expected February 3. The United States, Russia, and China -- which have veto power in the Security Council along with France and the United Kingdom -- support the resolution. Diplomats in Vienna have told journalists that they expect the resolution to achieve a broad consensus.
"The draft resolution which is now before the board says that we should report on that issue," IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei told journalists after the closed-door governors meeting. "But the sponsors made it clear that the Security Council is not expected to take any action at least before March."
ElBaradei called the monthlong reprieve "very much a window of opportunity" and said that the situation is "reaching a critical phase but it is not a crisis situation."
"I hope during that month that Iran will continue to cooperate with the agency, to clarify outstanding issues," he said.
"Whether the board's outcome will be to report to the Security Council or not, everybody agrees that the only way to move forward is through diplomacy, through negotiation, and there is still a window of opportunity for all concerned parties to find a way forward," the director-general said.
ElBaradei said that the draft resolution's supporters "are making it very clear that the Security Council is not asked, at this stage to take any action, definitely not before I submit my report in March."
Bolton told reporters in New York,"As long as this is before the IAEA that's what the discussion should focus on and what happens when it comes [to the Security Council] we will discuss after the IAEA vote."
Gregory Schulte, U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, said that the United States is "not now seeking sanctions or other punitive measures on Iran. We support the ongoing efforts of the IAEA with the weight of the Security Council's authority" according to a report from Bloomberg News.
In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington February 2, Stephen Rademaker, acting assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, said that the United States "will look to the Security Council to call upon Iran to cooperate with the IAEA. The council may also decide to enhance the IAEA's legal authority to investigate all aspects of Iran's nuclear program." (See related article.)
In New York, Bolton, the chief U.S. representative to the U.N. and a former under secretary of state for arms control and international security, said, "it's been the view of the United States that the Iran clandestine nuclear weapons program should be on the agenda of the [Security] Council. That has been our view for three years."
Bolton also explained that "there is no difference" between having the IAEA board of governors "report" or "refer" the issue to the Security Council.
Article 12C of the IAEA statute "says IAEA shall report to the Security Council when there are cases of noncompliance with an agency safeguards agreement. Article 3 of the IAEA statute says that there shall be reports by the IAEA to the General Assembly and the Security Council where appropriate," Bolton explained.
"The language used in earlier IAEA resolutions on North Korea, for example, use the word report. So the word report is what the IAEA does," the ambassador continued. "I and everybody else who has addressed this question has also used the word referral effectively interchangeably with the word report."
If the Iran's nuclear program does get to the Security Council in New York in March, Argentina will hold the presidency. At that time a wide variety of options from closed-door informal talks to placing the issue officially on the council's "agenda," to imposing sanctions are open to the council depending on what transpires in February.
Information on the February 2 IAEA meeting is available on the organization’s Web site. For additional information, see Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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