IAEA chief: no broad Iran report for February meeting

Reuters:

The International Atomic Energy Agency chief on Monday refused EU and U.S. requests for a broad report on Iran's disputed atomic work in time for a February 2 IAEA crisis meeting, saying he needed more time to prepare one.

Mohamed ElBaradei's response, whose text was obtained by Reuters, said he had given Iran until a regularly scheduled March 6 board session to answer questions about its nuclear program, which the West suspects aims to make nuclear bombs.

"Due process, therefore, must take its course before (we) are able to submit a detailed report," ElBaradei wrote.

Western leaders want a broad accounting of Iran's activities for the February 2 meeting to help them persuade skeptical Russia, China and developing states on the 35-nation board to agree to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

After ElBaradei turned down verbal requests from European Union powers and Washington to move up a full report, the U.S., British, French as well as Australian ambassadors to the IAEA pressed their case in letters sent to him at the weekend.

A British-French letter, seen by Reuters, requested a "short progress report" on the period since the last IAEA board in November, covering verification of Iranian declarations and monitoring of Iran's voluntary suspension of uranium-enrichment work.

Iran scrapped the suspension on January 9 by removing seals from nuclear-related equipment and announcing it was resuming nuclear fuel research and development, angering the West.

The British-French letter also asked ElBaradei to explain to board members the significance of a document given by Iran to IAEA inspectors last year containing what some diplomats said were the instructions for making the core of a nuclear bomb.

ElBaradei, giving other reasons for not speeding up his report, said a fresh IAEA verification mission was due in Iran later this week and that he had only last week sent extra questions to Iran based on what diplomats said was newly released intelligence data.

But he said his deputy would provide the February board gathering with a shorter summary of where the IAEA stood in "its investigations of outstanding issues". READ MORE

Iran denies accusations that it is seeking nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian atomic energy program, saying it aims only to generate electricity for a growing economy.