The IAEA.
Posted on 01/05/2005 7:18:10 AM PST by Jet Jaguar
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran has agreed to give U.N. inspectors access to a huge military complex that the United States alleges is linked to a secret nuclear weapons program, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday.
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei told The Associated Press he expected his experts to visit the Parchin site "within days or weeks."
The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency has been pressing Tehran for months to be allowed to inspect the Parchin military site, used by the Iranians to research, develop and produce ammunition, missiles and high explosives.
In leaks to media last year, U.S. intelligence officials said a specially secured site on the Parchin complex, 20 miles southeast of Tehran, may be used in research on nuclear arms, specifically in making high-explosive components for use in atomic weapons.
Iran insists its military is not involved in nuclear activities and that the IAEA has not found any firm evidence to the contrary.
But the agency did express concern in an October report about published intelligence and media reports "relating to dual use equipment and materials which have applications ... in the nuclear military area."
Diplomats accredited to the agency said that phrasing alluded to Parchin.
On a separate issue, ElBaradei declined to comment directly on reports that Egyptian scientists experimented with small amounts of uranium compounds that could be used in a nuclear weapons program.
But he suggested that his agency did not view Egypt as violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, saying "any (such) proliferation concern or any implication of a weapons program" would be reported to the IAEA board of governors.
Egypt's government rejected claims it is or has been pursuing a weapons program, saying its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
Iran has been the main focus of the IAEA since mid-2002, after the discovery of two secret nuclear facilities - a uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and a heavy water production plant near Arak.
That led to a subsequent IAEA investigation of what turned out to be nearly two decades of covert nuclear activities in Iran, including suspicious "dual use" experiments and a large-scale uranium enrichment program that could be linked to weapons programs.
Iran says its activities are peaceful and geared purely toward generating electricity. But the United States and its allies believe Iran wants to make warhead-grade uranium. President Bush labeled Iran part of an "axis of evil" with North Korea and prewar Iraq.
In a series of reports, ElBaradei has stopped short of declaring Tehran in breach of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, despite pressure by the United States to do so.
ElBaradei said he will "continue to keep the board updated" on Iran. But he told the AP on Wednesday he may not produce a new report on Tehran's nuclear activities for its next meeting in March, adding that he hoped to reduce the Iran file to "routine reporting" during the next six months.
Such steps would fuel U.S. anger by effectively suggesting that the probe of Tehran's nuclear activities no longer was important enough to warrant special consideration.
Senior U.S. officials already have blamed ElBaradei for the IAEA board's refusal to refer the case to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. Suggesting he is too soft on Iran, the officials have said they will fight his attempts this year to gain re-election for a third term as IAEA head.
The IAEA is monitoring an Iranian commitment made in November to suspend uranium enrichment activities that could be used to make the core for nuclear weapons. ElBaradei said that agreement had not been violated.
ElBaradei also identified North Korea as "the No. 1 security threat," saying the isolated communist country, which severed ties with his agency two years ago, probably had enough nuclear material to make six to eight bombs.
U.N. inspectors = bribe collectors.
Yup
Seems like this should have been done months or years ago.
Just like they did with Iraq call ahead and get reservations, (DO YOU MIND IF WE INSPECT YOUR NUCS????) This makes the UN look more STUPID than they already are.
The IAEA.
Or when Iran tells ElBaradei they're done hiding everything................[Rolling eyes]
dittos
This is the same IAEA that suspended their "inspections" for over a month so they wouldn't offend Iran during a religious month. What a crock!
Why the WAIT!
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