Iran to curtail support to U.N. nuclear agency

From combined dispatches

TEHRAN — Iran will scale back cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog in response to the agency’s Oct. 31 deadline for Tehran to prove that its atomic programs are peaceful, Iran’s representative to the agency said yesterday.

Ali Akbar Salehi said on state television that Iran had been allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) more oversight than required under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) “to show our good will and transparency. On the strict orders of President Mohammed Khatami, we allowed IAEA inspectors to take environmental samples and visit non-nuclear sites.

“This has been beyond our obligations, but from now on we will act according to the current regulations,” Mr. Salehi said.

The United States has said that Iran, North Korea and the former Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq constituted an axis of evil and has accused Tehran of running a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

It has also sought to have the IAEA declare Tehran in violation of the NPT and has appealed repeatedly to Russia to stop helping Iran build a nuclear power plant, fearing it could be used in efforts to build nuclear weapons.

A recent report by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to its board of governors noted that traces of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium were found at an Iranian nuclear facility, and that tests run by Iran make little sense unless the country is pursuing nuclear weaponry.

Tehran insists its nuclear programs are designed to generate electricity, and that its equipment was “contaminated” with enriched uranium by a previous owner.

The IAEA has pressed Iran to detail its nuclear program and sign an Additional Protocol letting agency inspectors conduct in-depth checks of nuclear facilities.

IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said the agency did not yet have an official response to Iran’s announcement. He, however, stressed that the agency still hopes Tehran will cooperate.

However, a Western diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity, conceded that Iran’s announcement indicates that it is not prepared to give the agency greater access to nuclear sites, and that it could become even more difficult for the IAEA to get answers.

“If Iran has decided to do only the minimum, it doesn’t sound like the accelerated cooperation the IAEA had called on it to provide,” the diplomat said.

In the interview yesterday, Mr. Salehi said Iran will continue talks with the IAEA on signing the protocols concerning inspections.

Iran has maintained that it would agree to unfettered inspections if granted access to advanced nuclear technology as provided for under the NPT. Tehran says Washington is keeping Iran from getting that technology.

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