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Iran tries to stave off global pressure

Iran is warning the US and other nations against pushing for too much too soon at a meeting of the UN atomic agency, warning that nuclear tensions could grow if Tehran is handed an ultimatum on opening its programs to full outside examination.

Opening yesterday, the meeting likely will urge Iran to make its nuclear program accessible by agreeing to a protocol allowing tougher International Atomic Energy Agency inspections without notice.

Under strong international pressure, Iran last month offered to negotiate the IAEA protocol. The IAEA will also ask Tehran to explain agency findings that the Americans and others say point to the existence of a covert nuclear weapons program.

Iran's delegate, Ali Akbar Salehi, said ahead of the meeting that Iran still was open to negotiating the inspection issue with the International Atomic Energy Agency, but indicated the offer could be withdrawn if IAEA board meeting "disrupted the whole process."

"We are sitting on a very thin edge," Salehi said. "It could tilt one way or the other very easily."

The US accuses Iran of working on a secret nuclear weapons program, and a recent confidential IAEA report, obtained by The Associated Press, said traces of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium were found at an Iranian nuclear facility.

The report also said Iran was conducting tests that experts say make little sense unless the country was pursuing nuclear weapons.

Tehran insists its nuclear programs are for generating electricity and says its equipment was "contaminated" with enriched uranium by a previous owner.

Salehi, while not going into specifics, warned of "unexpected or surprising consequences" should the Iranian leadership decide the IAEA board was making harsh demands -- in effect suggesting that such a move might escalate nuclear tensions.

Kenneth Brill, the chief US IAEA delegate, declined to comment on what the Americans were seeking. But he said the US and other board members believe Iran is trying "to evade international obligations and to seek the capacity to build nuclear weapons."

"It's fair to say that the majority of board members will want to see Iran ... enhance its cooperation" and "provide the answers to all the questions that are outstanding," he said.

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Sunday the IAEA did not share the view of the US, "which pursues an extremist position and its behavior is politically motivated."

"We hope Monday's meeting in Vienna will carry out its professional job away from political considerations," Hamid Reza Asefi said in Tehran before yesterday's summit.

In an apparent victory for Iran, the Bush administration last week decided not to ask the Vienna meeting to endorse a resolution finding Iran in noncompliance of IAEA obligations. That could bring the matter before the UN Security Council, which can take steps ranging from criticism to sanctions.

Instead, the resolution being drafted likely will call on Iran to answer questions raised in the report and provide full disclosure of its program. It also could set a deadline for Tehran to comply and warn that Iran will be declared in noncompliance if it misses that deadline, diplomats said on condition of anonymity.

Iran has said it would agree to unfettered inspections if it is granted access to advanced nuclear technology as provided for under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Tehran says Washington's influence is blocking that technology.

Suspicions about Iran's nuclear activities prompted Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA director-general, in February to tour Iran's nuclear facilities, including the incomplete plant in Natanz, about 480km south of Tehran. Diplomats said he was taken aback by the advanced stage of a project using hundreds of centrifuges to enrich uranium.
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