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Backers Predict IAEA Reporting Of Iran

3 February 2006 -- The governing board of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog appears set today to approve a proposal to report Iran to the UN Security Council over the country's nuclear program.

U.S. officials have said they believe a solid majority of the board's 35 member countries is in favor of taking Iran to the Security Council for possible punitive sanctions, international news agencies report.

"In order for a resolution to pass under the IAEA rules, you have to have a majority, which is more than half, one more than half," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters on 2 February. "We have 35 members of the board, so that means...18. We believe that we have more than that. We have a solid majority of countries that will vote in favor of the resolution."

McCormack added that "Iran will have an opportunity to respond and we'll see whether or not they take the opportunities that have been put before them by the international community to realize what they have been asking for -- that is to have peaceful nuclear power, while also providing objective guarantees to the international community that they won't try to use those peaceful nuclear power programs to develop a nuclear weapon."

Disagreement In Tehran

Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Asghar Soltanieh, meanwhile said he was "100 percent sure" that backers of referral would fail to secure consensus. He called the effort to bring Iran's case to the Security Council "the wrong course."

In a new letter to the IAEA, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, is quoted by news agencies as again warning that Iran will resume uranium enrichment and severely curtail international monitoring of its nuclear activities if it is referred to the Security Council.

Closed-Door Talks

The opening day of an emergency meeting of the IAEA governing board in Vienna on 2 February included several hours of formal session before it was convened as backers of the proposal sought the widest possible support.

Referral has been backed by the five permanent members of the Security Council -- the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain -- sometimes referred to as the "P-5." Reports suggest such a step remains opposed by governing board members including Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria.

Reuters quoted an unnamed EU diplomat predicting that backers would seek a vote on the IAEA resolution today. "We are aiming for a wide board consensus thanks to the strong P-5 message," the diplomat added.

Iran denies trying to make nuclear weapons, but says it has a right to nuclear power technology.

(compiled from agency reports)

Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org