03 February 2006
U.S. Wants Security Council To Reinforce IAEA Demands on Iran
State Department official says Security Council statement would be appropriate
By David Anthony Denny
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- If the International Atomic Energy Agency decides to report Iran's failure to comply with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations to the U.N. Security Council, the United States believes a statement from the council president would be an appropriate first step.
That is the view of Stephen Rademaker, the acting assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation. Rademaker participated in an interactive, Internet-based "webchat" on Iran's challenges to the global nonproliferation regime February 2 in which he received questions as text messages, and answered immediately the same way.
"We believe an appropriate first step would be a statement from the president of the [U.N. Security Council] that calls on Iran to take the very same steps that the IAEA Board [of Governors] has already repeatedly called on Iran to take," Rademaker said. Those steps include, he said:
• Renewing a full suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment-related efforts;
• Providing the IAEA with its full cooperation;
• Halting a heavy-water reactor project that the United States and others consider to be unnecessary;
• Ratifying the IAEA's Additional Protocol; and
• Re-establishing negotiations in good faith with Great Britain, France and Germany (the EU3).
In his initial comments, Rademaker said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, just within the past few days, had publicly restated the U.S. position toward Iran: It "cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons, including the technologies that could lead to a breakout capability."
Rademaker pointed out that the United States and other members of the IAEA were not trying to prevent Iran from exercising its right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to develop peaceful uses for nuclear energy. He noted that President Bush had "confirmed that the U.S. recognizes and supports that right.”
"Our problem is that there is compelling evidence that Iran's nuclear program is not peaceful," Rademaker said.
"The evidence is not just based on U.S. intelligence, but on an extensive and ongoing IAEA investigation," according to Rademaker. He said the investigation has discovered "serious and longstanding efforts by Iran to hide very sensitive aspects of its nuclear program … from the IAEA and the world." He said that uranium enrichment -- which is one of two ways to produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon -- was one of those aspects.
"The IAEA is also investigating evidence that Iran has been trying to develop nuclear weapons capabilities, a deeply troubling finding," Rademaker added.
The State Department official emphasized that the United States "is not now seeking punitive action against Iran at the Security Council.”
"We do not want to hurt the Iranian people. We are not trying to take the Iran issue out of the hands of the IAEA," Rademaker said. "[W]e think the Security Council should use its moral and legal authority to strengthen the IAEA's investigations, he said, adding, "We hope the Iranian regime will not ignore or defy the Council the way it has defied the IAEA."
The full text of Rademaker's webchat is available on the State Department Web site. Rademaker also spoke at the American Enterprise Institute February 2 on the same topic. (See related article.)
For additional information about the IAEA 's investigation of Iran's nuclear program, 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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