Nuclear Agency Votes to Report Iran to U.N.

Mark Landler, The New York Times:

Iran's showdown with the West over its nuclear ambitions entered a new, more volatile phase on Saturday, as the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to report the country to the United Nations Security Council for violating its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The decision, by a vote of 22 to 1, with 12 countries abstaining, was expected. But it reflected continuing, often bitter, divisions within the agency's governing board about how firmly to handle Iran.

Only a flurry of last-minute diplomacy at the agency's headquarters here persuaded Russia and China to abstain rather than oppose the measure. Venezuela cast the sole no vote.

The resolution declares Iran guilty of "many failures and breaches of its obligations," but leaves open the timing of a report to the Security Council. Russia and China opposed an earlier draft of the resolution, which would have reported Iran to the Council immediately.

The United States, which strongly backed the European-drafted resolution, expressed satisfaction, saying that it clearly raised doubts about the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program.

"We're concerned that Iran's activities pose an increasing threat to international peace and security," said the American ambassador to the agency, Greg Schulte. "Iran's pattern of deception, its concealment, its confrontational approach, increasingly worries the world community."

Iran condemned the move as part of a politically motivated campaign orchestrated by the United States and Britain.

"The United States and United Kingdom left no screws unturned to forge consensus here," said the chief Iranian delegate, Javad Vaeidi. "They failed. There is no consensus on the way to go forward."

Mr. Vaeidi did not say whether Iran would resume its enrichment of uranium or abrogate its agreements with the agency. Iranian officials hinted at that possibility in two unsigned letters they showed to several board members and the agency's director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, on Friday night.

"For us, good will begets good will, while threat invokes threat," Mr. Vaeidi said after the vote.

The open-ended nature of the resolution suggests there will be another round of diplomacy in Vienna before the dispute is referred to the Security Council. The Council could impose sanctions, but is more likely simply to step up the pressure on Tehran to abide by the nonproliferation treaty.

"I hope everybody will go back to the negotiating table," Dr. ElBaradei said after the vote. "I've always said this is the only way forward."

Russia and China opposed reporting Iran to the Security Council because they said the action would exacerbate an already tense situation. Both have strong economic ties to Iran, particularly Russia, which is constructing a nuclear power plant in Bushehr, in southern Iran.

Russia said it agreed to abstain only because the timing of a referral was left open, according to a Western diplomat who attended the meeting and asked not to be identified because it was a closed session. China urged Iran to be more forthcoming, the diplomat said, but expressed worry that the matter would be removed from the agency.

British, German, and French diplomats labored all week to avert no votes from Russia and China because they hold permanent seats on the Security Council and could scuttle future action against Iran.

Europe's push for this resolution came after its own diplomatic initiative with Tehran collapsed last month, when Iran abandoned a pledge to suspend sensitive work on nuclear fuel processing.

The vote was the culmination of two and a half years of confrontation between Iran and the atomic energy agency, which began in 2003 after the agency's inspectors uncovered evidence that Iran had concealed efforts to enrich uranium, a crucial building block for nuclear weapons.

"It's an excellent outcome, given the circumstances," said Gary Milhollin, the director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a research group in Washington. "It shows that if you force countries to choose between opposing proliferation and defending their economic interests, it's hard for them to say, 'We don't care about proliferation.' "

Perhaps the biggest surprise was India, which initially opposed the resolution but voted in favor of it.

The Bush administration last July proposed sharing civilian nuclear technology with India, a step that would require the approval of Congress. Mr. Milhollin said that prospect probably played a part in India's decision to support the United States here.

The debate over Iran this week was more contentious than any in the agency's recent history. Most of its resolutions are passed unanimously. Abdul Samad Minty, the head of the South African delegation, complained that Britain forced a vote without giving countries time to digest the revised resolution. South Africa abstained.

Western diplomats, however, played down the divisions, noting that several nonaligned countries voted in favor of the measure.

"The fact that Peru, Singapore, Ghana, India and Ecuador voted to support this resolution undercuts Iran's argument that this is purely Western political pressure," said a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the delicacy of the negotiations.

Dr. ElBaradei appeared eager to put the whole episode behind him. "Of course it would have been better to have a united board to send a unified message," he said. "But I still think the message is quite clear." READ MORE