Europeans to Urge Iran to Resume Suspension of Atom Program

Thomas Fuller, International Herald Tribune:

Britain, France and Germany are close to obtaining consensus for a resolution at the United Nations nuclear agency that would place a September deadline for Iran to resume suspension of its nuclear program, diplomats said today.

Iran Reopens Uranium Processing Plant as U.N. Agency Meets (August 11, 2005) After two days of backroom discussions and lobbying by the three European countries and the United States, the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency will meet today to consider the resolution that "urges Iran to re-establish full suspension of all enrichment related activities."

The resolution is described here as the best compromise possible among the 35 countries of the agency's governing board but could frustrate those governments that had hoped for a faster and more forceful approach. READ MORE

Iran, which restarted its nuclear program on Monday after talks with the European countries broke down, has said it is willing to restart negotiations but will continue the process of uranium conversion, one of the earliest and least sensitive steps in the nuclear fuel cycle.

"Once this resolution is passed, a tougher stage will begin and we will see what effect the board of governors' calls on Iran will have," said Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Iran's decision to press ahead with its nuclear program has put European leaders in a tough spot because they are trying to stop Tehran from doing something that is technically not illegal.

Iran suspended its nuclear program as part of a voluntary agreement with the European powers last November. The Iranians now say they have changed their minds because they are frustrated with the pace of negotiations over the scope of their nuclear ambitions. The West, in turn, fears that Iran's real intention is to develop nuclear weaponry.

The wording or content of the resolution being proposed today could be altered if there are objections from countries on the governing board. But the text being considered calls on the director general of the International Atomic Energy Authority, Mohamed El Baradei, to provide a report on Iran's response to the resolution by Sept. 3.

If Iran ignores the calls to suspend its nuclear program the board may then discuss referring Iran to the Security Council, diplomats said. European leaders have made this threat in recent days but it was not on the agenda of the emergency talks here.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that researches nuclear issues, believes that Britain, Germany and France have kept the Security Council threat off the agenda until now because they are not sure that they would win approval.

"The legal case is somewhat thin against Iran," Mr. Kimball said.

It is widely recognized that Iran did violate international law by hiding its nuclear program for 18 years. But the program was discovered in 2002 and Iran has since cooperated with United Nations inspectors, who have installed cameras in Iran's plants and make regular visits and reports.

"Some might ask, why are you taking this to the Security Council now?" said a Western diplomat, who spoke on the condition that she not be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. "This was discovered three years ago and they've taken corrective action since then,"

The continuing legalistic battle masks at least one fundamental question: Does Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, really need nuclear power plants?

The country last year produced and exported an average of 4.09 million barrels of oil a day. Given current reserves estimated in January by the Oil & Gas Journal, a trade publication, at 125.8 billion barrels, this would leave the country with slightly more than 80 years of production.

In addition, Iran's natural gas reserves are estimated to last 200 years at current production levels. Iran argues that a growing population and economy are causing its consumption rates to increase, therefore leaving it with progressively less oil to export.

"With the current trend of development in Iran it will not be long before we will have to utilize all our fossil fuel resources for domestic purposes," said Cyrus Nasseri, Iran's chief delegate at the I.A.E.A. meeting.

He added that Iran wanted to sell its uranium byproducts on the international market, describing nuclear fuel as the "alternative for the future not only for Iran but for the whole world." Mr. Kimball, of the Arms Control Association, believes Iran's motives are more complex than that.

"For Iran, nuclear technology is a source of national pride and a demonstration of its political and technological independence from its former colonial masters," he said. "This is much more complicated than a simple economic and energy calculation," he said.

The major fault line among countries represented at the I.A.E.A. is between developing countries that are wary of any action that impinges on their rights to peaceful nuclear programs and Western countries, many of which have both military and civil nuclear capacity and are afraid that the technology will spread.

Iran has positioned itself as a champion of the developing world, capable of standing up to Europe and the United States.

When Mr. Nasseri addressed the agency's governing board on Tuesday, he started with a jab at the United States, pointing out that the meeting was taking place on the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, and that it was the "most absurd manifestation of irony" that the only country to use atomic weapons "has now assumed the role of the prime preacher in the nuclear field while ever expanding its nuclear weapons capability."

Iran has support among some developing countries that are sympathetic to the argument that nuclear technology is not the exclusive right of wealthier countries. The Malaysian representative at the meeting, Rajmah Hussain, read a statement on behalf of the Nonaligned Movement, which includes such countries as Indonesia, India and South Africa, saying that nuclear technology issues "should be addressed in a balanced and nondiscriminatory manner."

Mr. Rajmah added that all countries had a "basic and inalienable right" to develop atomic energy for peaceful purposes.