US May Want Iran Reported to UN Council -Diplomats
February 13, 2004
Reuters
Louis Charbonneau
VIENNA -- The United States might renew its push to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for not complying with a U.N. nuclear resolution to fully declare its nuclear program, Western diplomats said on Friday.
Iran handed over a declaration in October that it said was a full and truthful account of its entire nuclear program, in compliance with a demand from the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) governing board.
However, diplomats said revelations on Thursday that Iran failed to declare drawings it acquired for an advanced uranium-enrichment centrifuge that can be used to produce material for weapons showed the declaration was incomplete.
"This is a very serious matter," said one envoy. Asked if he thought it could be serious enough for Washington to revisit the idea of reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions, the diplomat said he did.
Western diplomats in Vienna told Reuters on Thursday that the IAEA had uncovered designs for a centrifuge that should have been mentioned in Iran's October declaration.
Diplomats said Iran could have got the drawings from the father of Pakistan's atom bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, or someone close to him. Khan has admitted to leaking atomic secrets.
The designs, which Libya bought for its bomb program, may also have come through a global atomic black market Khan used to deliver nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
The United States has been saying for nearly a year that Iran's long history of concealing the full extent of its atomic program was a violation of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
President Bush said on Wednesday that Iran and North Korea had exploited NPT loopholes to pursue such programs and said a global effort was needed to stop a nuclear black market.
Iran has always denied trying to make a nuclear bomb, saying its atomic program was simply intended for generating power.
ELBARADEI'S IRAN REPORT DECISIVE
Another diplomat said Washington would likely wait until it saw IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei's interim report on Iran next week before making a decision on whether to push for the watchdog's board to report Iran to the Security Council.
If ElBaradei comes down hard on Tehran, Washington would likely want to bring the issue before the Council, he said.
There was also the question of whether France, Britain and Germany would support reporting Iran. The three have so far opposed such a move, preferring to use a "carrot and stick" approach with Tehran.
However, diplomats said Iran's failure to suspend all enrichment-related activities as promised in November has increasingly annoyed France and Britain. Iran has stopped enriching uranium but continues to make and assemble centrifuges, the diplomats say.
In the October declaration, Iran admitted to concealing its uranium-enrichment program from the IAEA for nearly two decades. However, it said at the time that it had come clean and would be completely open with the IAEA.
But diplomats said the IAEA's discovery of designs for a Pakistani-modified version of the Urenco "G2" centrifuge -- often referred to as the P-2 -- raised the question of whether there were any other undeclared facilities in Iran.
"This, in fact, is the smoking gun," said Henry Sokolski, head of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. He said the IAEA governors should report Iran to the U.N. Security Council at their March 8-10 board meeting.
Western diplomats have said they were convinced Khan sold Iran the same designs for nuclear warheads that Libya bought for $50 million.
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