Doug Lorimer
With blatant disregard for Iran's legal rights under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), the board of governors of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) unanimously adopted a resolution on September 18 demanding that the country suspend all its uranium enrichment activities.
Trying to lay the groundwork for a future Iraq-style invasion of oil-rich Iran, Washington has repeatedly alleged that Tehran's nuclear-power industry is a cover for a secret nuclear weapons program. Washington has been pressing the IAEA board to refer the matter to the UN Security Council so as to have international sanctions imposed on Iran.
Tehran insists its nuclear program is purely for the generation of electricity. IAEA inspectors, who have been given full access to Iran's nuclear facilities, have found no evidence of any nuclear weapons program.
In a clear attempt to discredit the findings of IAEA inspectors, David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq who heads the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based think-tank, released commercial satellite photographs of Iran's Parchin munitions factory and claimed it might be a site for the secret research, testing and production of nuclear weapons.
The next day, a US government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Associated Press that IAEA director-general Mohamed ElBaradei's report to the board meeting had kept silent about IAEA inspectors' concerns over the Parchin site, located 30 kilometres south-east of Tehran. "This is a serious omission", the US official said.
ElBaradei told reporters on September 17 that his report had contained "all the facts that we think should be brought to the attention of the board at this stage" and that IAEA inspectors "do not have any indication that" Parchin "has any nuclear-related activities".
Chief Iranian delegate Hossein Mousavian described Albright's claim as a lie, and said IAEA inspectors were welcome to visit the Parchin site.
The IAEA board's resolution set a November 25 deadline for a full review of Iran's compliance with the NPT. Although the resolution, which was submitted jointly by Britain, France and Germany, did not include any specific wording on a referral of Iran's nuclear program to the UN Security Council, chief US delegate Jackie Sanders told reporters the resolution set the next meeting of the IAEA board in late November as "an unambiguous deadline for Iran to cease its pursuit of nuclear weapons".
ElBaradei told reporters on September 19 that IAEA inspectors "haven't seen in Iran any material imported or produced that could be used for nuclear weapons".
Describing the resolution's demand that Iran cease uranium enrichment activities as "illegal", Iranian officials said they would not comply with it.
On September 20, Iranian President Mohammed Khatami was quoted by the official Iranian news agency, IRNA, as saying: "Big powers claim a nuclear safeguards regime to prevent the possible spread of nuclear material to the wrong hands, but all these are rhetoric. They not only support but also refuse to clamp down on Israel which to date refuses to disclose information on its nuclear activities and refuses to sign the NPT."
From Green Left Weekly, September 29, 2004.
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