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| U.N. Nuke Chief: Iran Must Come Clean ’Within |
| 2004-06-14 |
Mon Jun 14, 2004 10:21 AM ET By Louis Charbonneau and Mark Trevelyan VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran is not fully cooperating with U.N. inspectors and must come clean about the full extent of its nuclear program within months, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday. European cultural sensitivity is so charming. They’re letting Iran avoid total humiliation by giving them sufficient time to build at least one functional nuclear device and thereby save face before their Islamic brethern. Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran’s cooperation has been "less than satisfactory" and warned that the process of clarifying unresolved issues -- particularly over Iran’s uranium enrichment activities -- could not be allowed to drag on for ever. They don’t need "for ever." Just a few more months will do. "It is essential for the integrity and credibility of the inspection process that we are able to bring these issues to a close within the next few months, and provide the international community with the assurances it urgently seeks regarding Iran’s nuclear activities," he told the IAEA’s board of governors. The United States has long accused Iran of trying to build a nuclear weapon under cover of a civilian atomic energy program. Tehran denies this, insisting it is only interested in Diplomats said the United States would be pushing at the IAEA board meeting in Vienna, expected to last at least several days, for the agency to set Iran a deadline to cooperate fully. ElBaradei said any deadline would be a matter for the member states to decide, but his comments made clear that Iran had to stop delaying and changing its story U.S. ambassador Kenneth Brill, commenting on ElBaradei’s remarks, told reporters: "It was a firm message that Iran has to do much better than it has been doing." ElBaradei highlighted concerns over the detection of traces of low-enriched and highly enriched uranium at sites in Iran, and over Tehran’s work with advanced P-2 centrifuges. These are used to enrich, or purify, uranium for use in an atomic reactor or in a nuclear weapon. Information provided by Tehran on its P-2 program had been "changing and at times contradictory," ElBaradei said IRAN SAYS IT GAVE "FULL COOPERATION" Iran wants the IAEA to give it credit for the information it has disclosed to date, and has said failure to give it due recognition will affect future cooperation. The only "recognition" they deserve should be in the form of terrain following target "recognition" by cruise missiles. Tehran’s senior delegate Hossein Mousavian told reporters Iran was providing "full cooperation," supplying all information requested and narrowing down the range of outstanding issues "If Western governments impose extreme demands, the parliament will not sign the protocol," parliamentarian Mohammad Reza Tajeddini said in a newspaper article. Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the hard-line Kayhan newspaper, said Iran should end snap inspections in response to a toughly worded draft resolution circulated by France, Britain and Germany reprimanding Iran for poor Don’t worry, the cruise missiles will prevent your access as well. Sauce for the goose and all that ... Delegates at the Vienna meeting will consider the European trio’s draft that "deplores" Iran’s lax cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog. Iran wants this word out of the text. Yeah, and hillbillies want to be called "sons of the soil." Diplomats said Washington wanted it harsher, with some kind of deadline in the text to keep the pressure on Tehran. But one board member doubted a timeline could be included at this point |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-06-14 4:30:42 PM |