Iranian nuclear reactor
Photo: AP
UN nuclear chief: Iran can help end nuclear dispute
Mohamed ElBaradei tells General Assembly Iran's 'cooperation and transparency' are key to IAEA's report on country's compliance with the agency's queries about its nuclear program
The UN nuclear chief on Monday called Iran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment or halt construction of a nuclear reactor "regrettable," but said Tehran could help resolve the dispute over its nuclear ambitions if it clears up all suspicions about its nuclear activities.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said an agreement in August between the Iranian government and the UN nuclear watchdog for full Iranian cooperation with the agency's nuclear investigation was "an important step in the right direction."
But he told the UN General Assembly that "Iran's cooperation and transparency are key" to the report that the IAEA will present to its board next month on Tehran's compliance with the agency's queries about its nuclear program.
"These verification issues have been at the core of the lack of confidence about the nature of Iran's program," ElBaradei said.
FM in China
Foreign minister tells students in Beijing, 'We must act fast as time is not on our side'
Tehran has continued to defy demands by the UN Security Council and the IAEA board to stop developing its uranium enrichment program, which can produce fuel and the core of warheads, and mothball construction of a plutonium-producing reactor which, once completed, can also make weapons material, leading to two sets of council sanctions.
"This is regrettable," ElBaradei told the General Assembly.
Iran insists its enrichment activities are intended only to produce fuel for nuclear reactors that would generate electricity, but the US, the European Union and others suspect Tehran's real aim is to produce nuclear bombs. Since reaching agreement with Iran to clear up its nuclear record by year's end, ElBaradei has been vilified as pro-Tehran, and accused of overstepping his authority. Several senior US officials have been especially outspoken.
Iran's UN Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee warned the General Assembly later Tuesday that US Sanctions imposed last week "would only seek to undermine the current negotiations and cooperation between Iran and the (nuclear) agency."
Iranians "are determined to exercise their inalienable right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes...," he said. "I suffice to make it clear that no amount of US irrational policies will be able to dissuade us from pursuing our legitimate rights and interests." In the past, Iran has refused to answer questions about secret plutonium experiments in the mid-1990s and IAEA findings that Iran has not accounted for all the plutonium it has said it possessed.
IAEA experts want to know more about unexplained traces of plutonium and enriched uranium found last year at a nuclear waste facility and apparent black market purchases of polonium 210 - which can act as a trigger for a nuclear device. They also want information about diagrams showing how to mold uranium metal into the shape of warheads and an alleged secret uranium processing project linked by US Intelligence to a nuclear weapons program.
'Defining issue of our time'
ElBaradei told the General Assembly that Iran's declared nuclear material has not been diverted and "Iran has provided the agency with additional information and access needed to resolve a number of long outstanding issues, such as the scope and nature of past plutonium experiments." The key, he stressed, is whether Iran resolves all outstanding questions.
"If the agency were able to provide credible assurance about the peaceful nature of Iran's past and current nuclear program, this would go a long way towards building confidence, and could create the conditions for a comprehensive and durable solution," ElBaradei said.
"Such a solution would assure the international community about the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program, while enabling Iran to make full use of nuclear technology for economic and social development," he said. Iran's Khazaee stressed that "the right path for the peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue" is through dialogue with the IAEA. He said the current talks have already resolved issues related to a plutonium experiment and contamination at the Karaj facility, and were now focusing on centrifuges.
Iran insists its enrichment activities are intended only to produce fuel for nuclear reactors that would generate electricity, but the US, the European Union and others suspect Tehran is seeking to enrich uranium to a higher level for use in nuclear bombs.
Since reaching agreement with Iran to clear up its nuclear record by year's end, ElBaradei has been vilified as pro-Tehran, and accused of overstepping his authority.
ElBaradei said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition" that he had no evidence Iran was working actively to build nuclear weapons and expressed concern that escalating rhetoric from the US could bring disaster.
"We have information that there have been maybe some studies about possible weaponization," he said. "That's why we have said that we cannot give Iran a pass right now, because there is still a lot of question marks."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Iran this month of "Lying" About the aim of its nuclear program. She said there is no doubt Tehran wants the capability to produce nuclear weapons and has deceived the IAEA about its intentions.
US Vice President Dick Cheney has raised the prospect of "serious consequences" if Iran was found to be working toward developing a nuclear weapon. ElBaradei said if there is actual evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon, the IAEA would like to see it.
A "confrontation," he warned, "would lead absolutely to a disaster. I see no military solution. The only durable solution is through negotiation and inspection."
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Monday that the United States is working on three tracks simultaneously. They include ElBaradei's agreement with Iran, negotiations - with little apparent progress - between six parties and Iran to get the country to suspend enrichment, and preparing a third Security Council resolution with new sanctions.
Negotiations on a new resolution are taking place in capitals, he said, and foreign ministers of the six countries - the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China - hope to bring it to the council by late November. The goal is to get an agreement on suspending enrichment and answers to issues raised by ElBaradei, Khalilzad said.
"We believe that the Iranian nuclear issue is ... A defining issue of our time," he said. "It cannot be acceptable for it to develop the capability to produce nuclear weapons."
