Re: @@ Nuclear dispute arouses patriotism among Iranians @@
- From: "Arash" <A7000@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2006 05:56:11 -0500
Los Angeles Times
February 5, 2006
UN Panel Puts Iran on Notice
Tehran is told it will face Security Council action unless it reins in its nuclear
program. The Islamic Republic responds defiantly.
By Alissa J. Rubin and John Daniszewski
Vienna ? The United Nations' atomic energy agency voted overwhelmingly Saturday to
report Iran to the UN Security Council for its nuclear program, and Tehran responded
by announcing that it would restart efforts to enrich uranium, a procedure that could
provide fuel for nuclear weapons as well as power plants.
Hours later, President Bush warned that the international community was committed to
stopping Iran from building an atomic bomb.
"The path chosen by Iran's new leaders ? threats, concealment and breaking
international agreements and IAEA seals ? will not succeed and will not be tolerated
by the international agency", Bush said. "The regime's continued defiance only
further isolates Iran from the rest of the world".
Under the resolution approved in Vienna by the board of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran must meet a series of demands, including the cessation of
all uranium enrichment and full disclosure of its previous efforts to obtain nuclear
technology. Otherwise it will face censure and possible sanctions by the Security
Council.
The rapid-fire developments opened a new chapter in international relations with Iran
and the broader Middle East. If Iran does not curb its nuclear ambitions, the region
could see a preemptive attack on Iran's nuclear installations or an arms race among
neighboring countries.
The international community has time to develop a strategy. Estimates by the
Institute for Science and International Security in Washington suggest that Iran
could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a bomb within three years of
building a centrifuge plant. The U.S. has estimated such a capability would take 10
years.
The resolution was approved with the understanding that the matter will not come
before the council until March, leaving Iran time to work out a deal. The one-month
window satisfied a Russian demand to give Iran one last chance and was seconded by
China, which, like Russia, has major commercial trade with Iran.
Twenty-seven countries on the 35-member board voted to report Iran to the Security
Council. Five countries abstained: Libya, South Africa, Indonesia, Algeria and
Belarus. Only Venezuela, Cuba and Syria voted against the resolution.
In defiance, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad late Saturday ordered Iran's Atomic Energy
Organization to restart uranium enrichment, according to the official Iranian news
agency.
The Iranian ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, denounced the vote to
report Iran to the Security Council as "hasty and immature", saying that under a law
passed by the Iranian parliament, the country has no choice but to restart enrichment
and halt cooperation with the IAEA on snap inspections and voluntary disclosures.
Increasingly, Iran has appeared isolated. Its continuing defiance has unnerved many
countries that had given Tehran the benefit of the doubt that its nuclear program was
meant strictly for civilian energy purposes.
The measure had the backing of all five permanent Security Council members, as well
as two Muslim countries, Egypt and Yemen, that had been reluctant to oppose Iran.
They agreed to go along after the European Union and the United States accepted
compromise language making it a goal to create a nuclear-free Middle East.
The support of Russia and China appeared firm. Both countries, aware of their power
as brokers in the dispute between Iran and the West, took a softer tone than the
United States and EU in the wake of Saturday's session. Their support was crucial to
the Western authors of the resolution because either could veto any punitive measure
before the Security Council.
"A very important aspect of this board meeting is that Russia, China and the European
Union stood together in sending this message, and it wasn't just those countries, it
was Japan, it was Korea ? it was Brazil, Argentina and India, it was the overwhelming
majority of countries standing together and making it clear to the Iranian leadership
that the course they are taking is not acceptable", said Gregory Schulte, the U.S.
ambassador to UN agencies in Vienna. "What we heard from board members was concern
over the nature of Iran's nuclear program and the intentions of Iran's leadership".
British Ambassador Peter Jenkins said members of the board became uncomfortable about
Iran's open defiance of the international community's request that it halt its
nuclear activities. "Board members cannot understand why Iran is so determined" to
develop nuclear technology, he said.
Nuclear politics in the Middle East are complex because of vast inequalities in the
atomic capabilities of different countries. Israel has never acknowledged having
nuclear weapons, but it is widely believed to have a large arsenal. Iran, which views
itself as the leading Islamic power in the Middle East, has sharpened its
anti-Israeli rhetoric since Ahmadinejad came to power.
None of the Arab countries have nuclear weapons. They are leery of Israel, but also
of Iran, which is set apart from most of the Mideast by its language, Persian, and
its non-Arab Shia Muslim majority.
The Arab countries have been pushing for a Middle East free of atomic weapons, but if
Iran developed nuclear arms, it might also set off an arms race in the region,
several experts in nonproliferation said.
Although the Americans and Europeans publicly insist that sanctions are not yet under
discussion, senior U.S. State Department officials said that a carefully ratcheted
series of penalties had been worked out with the European Union. Initially, the
council would probably just reiterate the atomic energy agency's request for
compliance. If Iran failed to cooperate, the council would begin to look at penalties
such as bans on visas for Iranian officials and export prohibitions on products
needed by Iran's commercial sector.
Although Iran could respond by boosting the price of oil ? it is the second largest
producer in OPEC ? its officials have sent mixed messages about whether it would
pursue such a course, recognizing that it could hurt the country's friends as well as
its enemies.
Iran and its allies have few illusions about what lies in store.
"Despite the fact that the U.S. and Britain said they will not raise of the issue of
sanctions, they are moving in that direction", said Syria's ambassador to the IAEA,
Safwan Ghanem, after the vote.
For the United States, the vote represents the culmination of 2 1/2 years of
lobbying. In 2002, the National Council of Resistance in Iran, a Paris-based group
that opposes the current theocratic regime, provided information that the country had
had a secret nuclear program for nearly two decades.
After the group's statements, the U.S. worked for nearly two years to win over the
Europeans and successfully lobbied other countries to vote for the resolution.
Meanwhile, the UN's atomic energy agency tried to nail down information about Iran's
program, but found itself frequently blocked or given only grudging half answers. Two
years ago, Iran entered into negotiations with the European Union. It suspended all
nuclear processing as well as enrichment while trying to work out a package of
economic benefits in exchange for an indefinite extension of its freeze on nuclear
activities.
In August, shortly after the presidential election that swept populist conservative
Ahmadinejad to power, Iran announced that the negotiations were unsatisfactory and
restarted the process that turns raw uranium into gas for enrichment.
On January 10, Iran broke the IAEA seals on its enrichment plant at Natanz and
announced it would soon recommence research and development to increase its
enrichment capability.
For Russia, which for months had defended Iran's right to manufacture nuclear fuel
for peaceful purposes, the resumption of enrichment was a red line ? all the more so
because Moscow had offered Iran the option of entering into a joint venture in which
the uranium would be enriched in Russia to a level suitable for civilian use and sent
back to Iran for use in nuclear power plants.
With Russia backing a resolution to report Iran to the Security Council, China came
on board as well. At a dinner meeting in London on January 30, the five permanent
members of the Security Council came to a consensus to report Iran.
"We're reasonably satisfied with the results of this meeting", Russian Ambassador
Grigory Berdennikov said Saturday. "We think it was a very good decision in terms of
the possibilities for the IAEA to continue its work on this very acute issue. And we
hope that by March many issues will be resolved".
Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya insisted that China objected to sanctions "as a
matter of principle", and preferred to seek a negotiated diplomatic solution.
"I prefer a low-key approach. There is still room for parties to show flexibility and
to work for a negotiated and diplomatic solution", he said. "Why talk about sanctions
now? We still have time to make all sides flexible to work out this diplomatic
solution".
In a further effort to win votes from nonaligned countries, Washington used a
combination of carrots and sticks. With India, the United States threatened to halt a
deal to supply the country with nuclear technology for power plants unless it voted
in favor.
Egypt consented only reluctantly late Friday after the Western powers agreed to add
language, strongly opposed by Israel, stating that solving the Iranian problem would
help in "realizing the objective of a Middle East free of weapons of mass
destruction, including their means of delivery".
The United States tried to play down the significance of the change, and Schulte
described it as part of the horse-trading.
"In these board meetings ? we work to bring as many countries on board as possible
and we think the strong number of countries we have on board now sends a very
powerful signal?. The resolution today is about Iran and the issue we put on the
Security Council's agenda is Iran's noncompliance and the absence of international
confidence in its nuclear program".
Nuclear impasse
-----------------------
Some key events in the West's three-year standoff with Iran over its atomic program:
February-May 2003: International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors examine nuclear
facilities in Iran, which the United States accuses of running a covert weapons
program.
June: IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei says Iran kept certain nuclear materials and
activities secret.
December: Iran formally signs an Additional Protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty to allow UN experts full access to its facilities.
February 2004: Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan admits he delivered
atomic weapons technology to Iran.
September: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says Iran's nuclear program is a
growing threat and calls for UN sanctions.
November: Iran announces the suspension of uranium enrichment and related activities
in a deal with European nations.
August 2005: Iran rejects a European Union incentive package offered in exchange for
guarantees it will not pursue nuclear weaponry. Tehran announces it has resumed
uranium conversion at Esfahan, spurring the IAEA to call an emergency meeting.
Sept. 17: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tells the UN Security Council it is
Iran's "inalienable right" to produce nuclear fuel and offered a role in its program
to other nations and companies to show that it was not producing nuclear weapons.
Sept. 24: IAEA passes resolution saying Iran's nuclear program was in noncompliance
of the nonproliferation treaty, and puts Tehran one step away from Security Council
action.
Nov. 11: Plans emerge for a Russian offer to enrich uranium for Iran on Russian soil.
Jan. 10, 2006: Iran removes UN seals from nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz, in
effect ending a freeze on the process that produces fuel that can be used for nuclear
weapons.
Jan. 18: Europe, backed by the U.S., rejects Iran's request for talks on its nuclear
program, while Ahmadinejad accuses the West of acting like the "lord of the world" in
denying his country the peaceful nuclear activities.
Feb. 4: IAEA's 35-member board of governors votes 27-3 with five abstentions to refer
Iran's nuclear program to the Security Council. Tehran says it resumes enrichment
effort.
Source: Associated Press
* Los Angeles Times staff writers Maggie Farley at the United Nations, Laura King in
Jerusalem, Bob Drogin in Washington, James Gerstenzang in Crawford, Texas, and
special correspondent Julia Damianova in Vienna contributed to this report.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iaea5feb05,0,4294736,full.story?coll=la-headlines-world
.
- References:
- Prev by Date: Re: @@ Nuclear dispute arouses patriotism among Iranians @@
- Next by Date: Re: @@ Nuclear dispute arouses patriotism among Iranians @@
- Previous by thread: Re: @@ Nuclear dispute arouses patriotism among Iranians @@
- Next by thread: Re: @@ Nuclear dispute arouses patriotism among Iranians @@
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
