VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The U.N. atomic watchdog agency Saturday put Iran just one step away from referral to the Security Council unless Tehran eases suspicions about its nuclear activities in coming months - a move the United States has been pushing for years. The chief U.S. delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency hailed the decision, describing it as a wake-up call for Tehran ``to come clean'' or face the consequences.But his Iranian counterpart blasted the approval of the resolution and warned of retaliation. Tehran maintains its nuclear program is for generating electricity.
| Well then, a thorough inspection regimen shouldn't be a problem. |
| He's just got to be taking the gas pipe on this one. |
| Notice how India voted. |
The resolution called on the board to consider reporting Iran at a future meeting. As grounds, it mentioned noncompliance with the nuclear arms control treaty and suspicions that Iran's nuclear activities could threaten international peace and security. Diplomats from countries backing the resolution said it set Iran up for referral as early as November, when the board next meets in regular session, unless it dispels international concerns.
Outlining what Iran must do to avoid such action, the draft called on it to give IAEA experts access to nuclear-related documents and sites, suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities and ratify an inspection agreement with the IAEA. In opting for referral, the board is ``concerned that Iran's activities pose an increasing threat to international peace and security,'' Schulte said. ``The IAEA has called on Iran to ... come clean.''
But Iran's delegation head, Javad Vaeidi, said the vote was evidence ``there is no consensus on the way forward.'' He also warned, ``Threat invokes threat.'' Tehran already warned Friday that if the resolution was approved, it could respond by starting uranium enrichment - a possible path to nuclear arms - and by reducing IAEA powers to inspect its activities under the additional agreement it signed but had not yet ratified.
Both threats were contained in unsigned letters and shown by a member of the Iranian delegation to ElBaradei, diplomats accredited to the agency said on condition of anonymity because their information was confidential.
| Typical MSM reporting. |