The EU and its allies will ask the UN nuclear watchdog yesterday to demand Iran halt sensitive atomic work it resumed this week while stopping short of asking the UN Security Council to take action.
Diplomats at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were debating a draft resolution yesterday that expressed "serious concern" over Iran's resumption of uranium conversion, but left open the possibility of more talks on the crisis.
The resolution, drawn up by Britain, Germany and France, said the agency cannot confirm that Tehran has declared all its nuclear materials and activities. But it made no mention of reporting the regime to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose crippling sanctions.
The text, which was to be reviewed later yesterday by the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors, noted that "outstanding issues relating to Iran's nuclear program have yet to be resolved, and that the agency is not yet in a position to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran."
It expressed "serious concern" over Iran's resumption of uranium conversion this week at its nuclear facility at Isfahan, saying the move "underlines the importance of rectifying the situation ... and of allowing for the possibility of further discussions in relation to that situation."
The measure requested IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei to provide the board with a comprehensive report on Iran's compliance with an agency safeguards agreement by Sept. 3.
Some developing countries worry that a measure banning Iran from producing its own nuclear power plant fuel by converting and enriching uranium could be applied to their nuclear programs, too.
``The enrichment issue is one of the problems we are talking about,'' the diplomat said.
Enriched uranium can be used to produce energy or to make weapons, depending on the degree to which it has been enriched.
Negotiations on how to rebuke Iran started on Tuesday when the board met for an emergency session. Although the IAEA board has the power to report Tehran to the Security Council, diplomats made clear they were not considering that step and instead were holding out hope for a negotiated end to the standoff.
On Wednesday, IAEA inspectors watched as Iranian workers removed IAEA seals at the plant in Isfahan. Workers were set to resume the final steps of conversion, a process that precedes enrichment.
Iran says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful. But the US and others fear Iran could use its program to build bombs -- concerns fueled by past revelations that Iran concealed 18 years of nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment.
The EU said in a statement it does "not believe that Iran has any operational need to engage in fissile material production activities ... if the intentions of its nuclear program are exclusively peaceful."
But Iran's chief IAEA delegate, Sirus Nasseri, argued earlier that all countries should be permitted to produce their own nuclear power plant fuel to prevent being "dependent on an exclusive cartel of nuclear fuel suppliers -- a cartel that has a manifest record of denials and restrictions for political and commercial reasons."
Reacting to the draft resolution, Ali Aghamohammadi, spokesman for Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said resuming the suspension would make no sense.
"Resuming the suspension is meaningless. The process of talks with the EU, proved that suspension of our activities was not a solution," he said in Tehran. "Resumption of the Isfahan plants' activities does not mean breaking the game. It was just for getting out of the nuclear impasse."
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese