The EU submitted a motion that sets Iran up for referral to the UN Security Council, and pushed for a decision yesterday when the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reconvenes.
Iran increased its own pressure against referral, threatening to restart uranium enrichment -- a possible pathway to nuclear arms, diplomats accredited to the agency said. They said Iran also warned it could block access for inspectors for the IAEA it had agreed to under a document that Iran has not yet ratified.
The diplomats said on Friday that both threats were contained in unsigned letters and shown by a member of the Iranian delegation to the IAEA head, Mohamed ElBaradei.
If signed and submitted, the letters become part of the official record.
The EU motion -- a draft resolution to the IAEA's board of governors -- calls on the 35-nation board to consider reporting Iran to the council. As grounds, it mentions noncompliance with provisions of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT) and suspicions that Iran's nuclear activities could threaten international peace and security, according to a draft copy.
An official of US President George W. Bush's administration said the US was willing to accept the motion as an interim measure.
Any resolution still must be accepted by the board before it has validity. The board agreed to reconvene yesterday and the Europeans, backed by the US and their allies, were expected to call then for approval by consensus or, if that proved impossible, for a vote.
The board normally makes decisions by consensus, but the divisive nature of the draft was expected to result in a vote, which the Europeans were expected to win against Iran's allies at the IAEA.
The Security Council could impose sanctions if it determines that Iran violated the NPT, but veto-carrying council members Russia and China -- which oppose even referral to the council -- were certain to vote against such action, and the draft made no mention of sanctions.
Still, it was unequivocal in saying that -- unless Iran ends uranium conversion and clears up questions remaining about its past nuclear activities -- the grounds exist for Security Council referral.
A nation's failure to comply with the nonproliferation treaty is automatic grounds for a report to the Security Council under IAEA statutes, and the draft said "Iran's many failures and breaches of its obligations ... constitute noncompliance."
Additionally, Iran's spotty record on cooperating with an IAEA probe since it began in 2002 has resulted in an "absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes," the document said. That finding puts Iran "within the competence of the Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security," the text said.
The draft did not specify a time frame, but outlined what Iran must do to avoid being brought before the Security Council, including:
Giving IAEA experts "access to individuals, documentation relating to [nuclear] procurement, dual use equipment, certain military owned workshops and research and development locations."
A return to "full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related activity ... and reprocessing activity" -- allusions to the resumption by Iran last month of uranium conversion -- a precursor of enrichment, which can result in either nuclear fuel or the fissile core of warheads.
Iran's ratification of the additional agreement with the IAEA giving its inspectors the right to look more closely at Iran's nuclear activities.
From the tone of the draft submitted, it appeared the EU decided to go with a harsher text, even at the risk of alienating Russia.
The Europeans for years avoided US demands for support in its push to haul Iran before the Security Council. They reluctantly swung behind Washington last month, after Tehran walked away from talks with Britain, France and Germany meant to reduce suspicions about its nuclear aims and began uranium conversion.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
RSS