March 10, 2004
By Louis Charbonneau
VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States and key EU states are close to a deal on a U.N. nuclear resolution strongly hinting Iran has an atom bomb program, while an Iranian exile charged Tehran was forging ahead with weapons plans.
The United States said the resolution to be submitted to the U.N. nuclear watchdog's board would signal to Iran it would be punished if it defied the agency but stopped short of reporting Tehran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
"We're not looking for a formal non-compliance resolution at this time, but we're seeking a strong resolution that keeps pressure on Iran to comply with all its obligations," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
The latest draft resolution, which is still being revised, comes after Washington and its allies persuaded France, Britain and Germany to accept a clause pointing out the military link to Tehran's nuclear program. In exchange, U.S. negotiators accepted a paragraph praising Iran's recent show of cooperation.
"This is an acceptable compromise," said one Western diplomat, adding that changes from the previous draft were "minor."
Iran said Tuesday it had not violated the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of Governors met in Vienna.
"It is a mistake to say that Iran has violated its commitments and Tehran will definitely not accept it," Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told the official IRNA news agency.
IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei criticized Iran Monday for failing to declare advanced "P2" centrifuges that can be used to make atom bombs and said Iran and Libya had violated the NPT.
Iran says its program is purely peaceful, but the draft refers to ElBaradei's finding in a February 24 report that "most of the workshops used in Iran's centrifuge enrichment program are 'owned by military industrial organizations."'
Tehran's U.N. delegation submitted a letter to the IAEA board saying this part of the report was "not correct" and only "three out of 10 workshops" belonged to the defense industry.
WESTERN QUESTIONS
An Iranian exile who has previously released accurate nuclear information about Iran said Tuesday Iranian leaders decided at a recent meeting to seek an atom bomb "at all costs" by the end of 2005 and begin enriching uranium at secret plants.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, who disclosed in August 2002 that Iran had a hidden uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and a heavy-water plant at Arak, told Reuters his new information came from the same "well-informed sources inside Iran."
Another Western diplomat told Reuters that few people on the IAEA's board doubt that Iranians did not have a nuclear weapons program at some point, though he said there was disagreement about whether or not it is still active as Washington insists.
"(Iranians) say the program is civilian, but there are doubts," said the diplomat, declining to be named.
"If it is civilian, why did they produce plutonium, why did they produce polonium-210, why are workshops owned by military industrial organizations?" the diplomat said, referring to weapons-usable items found by the IAEA in Iran.
The resolution is expected to be debated Thursday. IAEA usually seeks to adopt resolutions by consensus and diplomats said the agreement on the text of the resolution was not final.
The key block of votes on the IAEA's 35-nation board would now be the 13 countries in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). NAM diplomats said Tuesday they saw no need for any resolution.
(Additional reporting by Mark Trevelyan, Paul Hughes and Saul Hudson)
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