IAEA Condemns Iran, Rules Out Sanctions

The 35-nation board of directors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) agreed on the compromise resolution, after a tussle over the wording between the United States and European countries, in Vienna earlier Wednesday, reported Agence France-Presse.

The resolution balances the U.S. call to condemn Iran for 18 years of hidden nuclear activities that included making plutonium, and the demand by Britain, France and Germany that Iran be rewarded for cooperating since October 2003 with the IAEA.

The U.S. dropped demands to take Iran immediately before the Security Council for "non-compliance" with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

But it got a guarantee that the Council be alerted if Iran's violations continue. It considered a "trigger mechanism" in the resolution which says that if "any further Iranian failures come to light, the Board of Governors would meet immediately to consider... all options at its disposal."

"The draft resolution (on Iran) has just been adopted by consensus," said spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told reporters shortly after meeting.

U.S. ambassador to the IAEA Kenneth Brill told the board that Washington, which accuses Tehran of secretly developing nuclear weapons, felt that any future violations by Iran of nuclear safeguards would necessitate "an immediate report to the UN Security Council."

"The resolution shows that Iran has carried out its civilian nuclear activities honestly and transparently," Asefi

IAEA chief Mohamed El-Baradei said the resolution marked "a good day for peace, multilateralism and non-proliferation."

But he warned the resolution was meant as "a very serious and ominous message" for Iran to comply with international regulations in the future.

He further said: "We naturally still have much verification work to do before we can provide the assurances expected by the international community, specifically that all nuclear activities in Iran are fully declared and are exclusively for peaceful purposes."

He added that he would file a report on Iranian compliance for the next IAEA board meeting in March 2003.

Iran promised on October 21 in an agreement with the European big three to sign the additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and delivered a letter formalizing this promise on November 10 to ElBaradei.

In return, Iran was promised the issue would not go to the Security Council when the IAEA board met in November. The protocol was created in 1997 after the IAEA discovered that previous inspections had not been broad enough to uncover hidden nuclear activities in Iraq.

It gives the IAEA inspectors the right to make unannounced visits to suspect sites, even if the host country has not declared them as open to inspection.

Meanwhile, Iran hailed Wednesday the resolution, describing it as an achievement fort the Islamic republic.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi, in a statement sent to AFP, said the resolution proved the country's transparency.

"This resolution is an achievement for the Islamic republic of Iran and shows that Iran has carried out its civilian nuclear activities honestly and transparently, and despite the uproar of certain oppressive circles has not sought to manufacture a nuclear weapon," Asefi said.

Asefi's statement was referring to the United States and its ally Israel, which charge that Iran's nuclear program poses a threat to the Jewish state's existence.

At the time Israel is warning against Iran's alleged nuclear arsenal, Israel's nuclear arsenal has grown from an estimated 13 nuclear bombs in 1967 to 400 nuclear and thermonuclear weapons to date, according to a report published by The Los Angles Times on October 11.

"What has taken place these past few days is the failure of unilateral policies ... and a victory for cooperation, politics and dialogue," Asefi said.

"We expect the IAEA to conduct its future cooperation in a sincere manner ... so as to allow Iran to continue with sincerity its policy of cooperation with the agency under the framework of the Tehran Declaration," said Asefi, referring the to Iran's October 21 promise.