The UN nuclear agency agreed on ways to police Iran's suspension of some nuclear programs, but a US official said Washington might still try to take the case to the Security Council.
"Okay Mr. Weasel, this here's the henhouse, you patrol this every night."
"What about him?" [points to fox]
"Oh, that's just a fox, he comes by often. Pay him no mind!" |
The International Atomic Energy Agency board passed a resolution authorizing its head, Mohamed ElBaradei, to monitor Iran's commitment to freeze uranium enrichment activities that can produce either low-grade nuclear fuel or the raw material for atomic weapons. But US chief delegate Jackie Sanders listed more than a dozen open questions about Iran's nuclear intentions still before the agency despite a nearly two-year investigation of almost two decades of covert activities. "This makes it clear that the IAEA cannot ... offer the necessary assurances that Iran is not attempting to produce nuclear material for weapons," she told the board.
France, Germany and Britain, who negotiated a Nov. 7 agreement with Iran on suspension, came to the meeting saying the deal meant that all equipment used for enrichment must come to a standstill. Iran had demanded that it be allowed to run 20 centrifuges for research purposes. Seeking to avoid tough measures by the board that could have led to referral to the Security Council and possible sanctions, Iran appeared to give up its demands Sunday, delivering a letter to the agency pledging "not to conduct any testing with these sets of components." But a pledge by Hossein Mousavian, the chief Iranian delegate to the meeting, that "we are not going to introduce material or any gas" into the centrifuges" appeared to fall short of the European demands. Later, Iranian delegate Cyrus Nasseri appeared to move closer to the European interpretation, telling reporters that Iran "will not" run even empty centrifuges. The lack of a "trigger mechanism" beginning the referral process in case of violations disappointed the United States - which insists Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons.
| We might need our own "trigger". |
Sanders, the chief US delegate, told the meeting Tehran could not be trusted. "We believe Iran's nuclear weapons program poses a growing threat to international peace and security," she said. "Any member of the United Nations may bring to the attention of the Security Council any situation that might endanger the maintenance of international peace and security," she said, alluding to the possibility of a unilateral US push. Set to start in mid-December, the deal with the Europeans commits the Iranians to the freeze only during negotiations with France, Germany and Britain on EU economic, political and technological aid. And even that was cast into doubt, with Iran appearing to reserve the right to renegotiate the suspension - its letter to the IAEA, as quoted by an official from a board member country, said Tehran would "discuss further" the freeze once those talks begin. |