Posted on 09/17/2004 9:12:12 AM PDT by epluribus_2
VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog has found no signs of nuclear-related activity at a site in Iran called Parchin that several U.S. officials have said may be linked to secret atom bomb research, Mohamed ElBaradei said on Friday. "We are aware of this new site that has been referred to. We do not have any indication that this site has nuclear-related activities. However, we continue to investigate this and other sites (in Iran)," ElBaradei told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
He added that he would be going to South Korea in early October to discuss recent revelations about undeclared nuclear research, including the enrichment of a small amount of uranium and separation of a minute quantity of plutonium.
I hear that once the S.Korean investigation is over, there's going to be a complete probe into the Spanish mass transit system.
JPost.com » News » World News » Article Sep. 18, 2004 9:25 | Updated Sep. 18, 2004 18:42
IAEA demands Iran suspend uranium enrichment
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
A 35-nation meeting of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency on Saturday demanded that Iran suspend all aspects of a key process that can be used to make nuclear weapons, and set an indirect late fall deadline for Tehran to heed its conditions.
The United States - which accuses Iran of trying to make such arms - praised the text and urged the conference to act to send Tehran to the U.N. Security Council in November should it be found to have defied any of the resolution's conditions.
"To wait until the IAEA finds the nuclear weapons ... is to wait until it is too late," chief U.S. delegate Jackie Sanders said in prepared comments to the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors. "With every passing week, Iran moves that much closer to reaching the point where neither we, nor any other international body, will be able to prevent it from achieving nuclear weapons capacity.
"The time for decisive action is approaching," she said.
Iran, however, suggested that Washington failed to nail down a specific date for the country to comply or push through automatic referral to the U.N. Security Council should it fail to do so.
And European countries also suggested that the issue of Iran would be debated at least one more time at the next board meeting in November.
Approved unanimously by delegates at the board meeting, the toughly worded resolution said it "considers it necessary" that Iran freeze all uranium enrichment and related programs and expressed alarm at Iranian plans to convert more than 40 tons of raw uranium into uranium hexafluoride _ the gas that when spun in centrifuges turns into enriched uranium.
It also said it "strongly urges" Iran to meet all demands by the agency in its investigation of the country's nearly two decades of clandestine nuclear activity, including unrestricted access to sites, information and personnel that can shed light on still unanswered questions on whether Tehran was interested in the atom for nuclear weapons.
It called on the IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei "to provide a review of the findings of a more-than one year probe of Iran's nuclear activities which Tehran insists are strictly tailored toward generating electricity.
Suggesting that the Islamic Republic could answer to the U.N. Security Council should it defy the demands, the resolution said the next board meeting in November "will decide whether or not further steps are appropriate" in ensuring Iran complies.
The Americans, who accuse Iran of using the argument of peaceful nuclear aims to acquire the technology to make weapons, praised the text as sending a "stark" message to Iran.
"This resolution sends an unmistakable signal to Iran that continuing its nuclear weapons program will bring it inevitably before the (U.N.) Security Council," Sanders, the chief U.S. delegate, told reporters.
"Iran must not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons," she said, asserting that the resolution set the next meeting of the board in November as an unambiguous "deadline ... for Iran to cease its pursuit of nuclear weapons."
ElBaradei described the text as reflecting "the collective will of the international community," adding: "The resolution is very clear as to what is expected of Iran in the next few months."
Still, the text appeared to leave Iran wiggle room. While demanding Iran suspend all uranium enrichment activities, the resolution also recognized nations' right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy _ which Iran says is what it wants nuclear enrichment for.
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