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Iran halts key nuclear work to avoid sanctions
| Su-u-u-ure they did. EFL. |
Iran on Monday suspended sensitive nuclear activities that could be used to make a bomb in a move likely to thwart U.S. efforts to report the Islamic Republic to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. Washington wants Iran to face sanctions, accusing it of trying to develop atomic bombs under the veil of a nuclear power project. But the EU has taken a softer line, persuading Tehran to stop sensitive activities in return for better ties. Oil-rich Iran denies it is trying to develop a nuclear arsenal and says it just wants to generate electricity.
| "We're simple peasants, really!" |
"Today the whole enrichment process has been suspended," Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told CNN. U.S. President George W. Bush reacted to the announcement with mild scepticism. "Let's say, I hope it's true," he said. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), confirmed the freeze. "I think pretty much everything has come to a halt right now. We're just trying to apply seals and make sure everything has been stopped," ElBaradei told reporters in Vienna.
| Attaboy, Mo, those seals really work well. |
Operations at an Isfahan facility readying raw "yellowcake" uranium for the enrichment process had also stopped, he said. IAEA inspectors are verifying the suspension and plan to confirm it has been fully implemented at Thursday's IAEA board meeting which will discuss a draft EU resolution on the issue. Iran never fully suspended the programme after making a similar promise to France, Britain and Germany in October 2003.
Posted by: Steve White 2004-11-23 |
