September 1, 2005

IAEA finishes Iran report as EU readies U.N. push

By Louis Charbonneau

VIENNA (Reuters) - A report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog is expected to confirm Iran has resumed sensitive nuclear work, diplomats said, and EU officials meeting on Thursday were ready to take steps leading to possible sanctions.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to deliver its latest report on Iran's nuclear programme to 35 nations on the agency's board of governors on Saturday, diplomats close to the agency said.

File photo of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei answering a journalist's question after an IAEA board of governors meeting in Vienna, Austria August 11, 2005. (REUTERS/Herwig Prammer)

The IAEA has been investigating Iran's nuclear programme for almost three years. It has found no hard evidence to back U.S. allegations that Tehran is developing nuclear weapons but is not convinced Iran's atomic ambitions are peaceful.

The key element in the report from IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei will be confirmation that Iran has resumed work at a uranium processing plant at Isfahan, which Tehran mothballed under a November 2004 deal with France, Britain and Germany.

Iran insists its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful and has accused the EU of trying to deprive it of atomic energy.

"The report will not have a harsh tone, but it is expected to confirm that Iran ended part of the suspension," a European diplomat told Reuters. "It will also outline a number of open questions about Iran's nuclear programme."

Foreign ministers from the EU's 25 member states gathered in Newport, Wales, and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the bloc would support referring Iran to the United Nations Security Council over its nuclear activities if necessary.

"If the situation continues ... we will go the Security Council but we will have to discuss that today," Solana told reporters as he arrived for the meeting.

He said the Union would look first to the IAEA board meeting. "We will see what comes out of that but be ready to go to New York if necessary."

STRAW URGES EU UNITY

In a letter before the meeting, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urged EU countries to build a united front against Iran's decision to back out of a key part of the November 2004 Paris Agreement with the three biggest EU powers.

"We should take stock on Iran and discuss how we might best pursue the nuclear file over the coming weeks," Straw wrote. "This might also be an opportunity to discuss what Iran's new government and its breaking of the Paris Agreement means for EU-Iran relations over the coming months."

The EU trio has tried for two years to persuade Iran to give up uranium enrichment to assure the world it is not pursuing atomic weapons. In exchange, the EU offered economic and political incentives that Tehran rejected as inadequate.

As the European Union ministers gathered, the spokesman for Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Aghamohammadi, reiterated that Tehran would never give up its atomic programme.

"Iran's objective is to use nuclear technology in a peaceful way and it will not give up its right in that regard," he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

The IAEA urged Iran on Aug. 11 to resume the suspension.

Although Iran has not resumed enriching uranium, last month it began work at a plant in Isfahan that converts raw uranium into gas that can later be purified into enriched uranium fuel for power plants or bombs.

This, diplomats say, violated the Paris Agreement and left the Europeans no choice but to refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions.

The IAEA board meets on Sept. 19 to discuss ElBaradei's Iran report. The EU, the United States and their allies hope the board will unanimously adopt a resolution that sends the issue to the Security Council, diplomats said.

"No one's talking about sanctions right now," a diplomat said. "If it gets to the Security Council, then those discussions will begin."

(Additional reporting by Francois Murphy in Vienna, Peter Graff in London, Parisa Hafezi in Tehran and Katherine Baldwin in Newport, Wales)

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