Iran Enriched Uranium, Won't Cooperate, UN Reports
By: Administrative Account | Source: Bloomberg
April 29, 2006 6:05AM EST

April 28 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations nuclear agency today told the UN Security Council that Iran enriched uranium and is stonewalling inspectors' efforts to determine whether the program is intended for the production of nuclear weapons. ``The agency is unable to make progress in its efforts to provide assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran,'' read an eight-page International Atomic Energy Agency report seen by Bloomberg News. The IAEA confirmed that Iran had enriched uranium to a 3.6 percent concentration as of April 16 using a cascade of 164 centrifuges. The assessment by IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei, ordered by the Security Council March 29, sets the stage for the UN's most powerful body to consider imposing sanctions on Iran. U.S. President George W. Bush said the report showed international unity to curb Iran's atomic program while John Bolton, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, said Iran's defiance of an international request that it stop enriching uranium is a ``threat to world peace.'' The heavy metal, when enriched to a concentration of about 90 percent, can be used for an atomic bomb. Iran hasn't heeded IAEA calls for compliance, said a senior official close to the IAEA, who requested anonymity. The agency still has gaps in its knowledge about Iran's nuclear program and needs access to research centers and studies that could have a military dimension, the person said. Following Ultimatum Today's report was issued following an ultimatum set by UN diplomats a month ago that Iran stop uranium enrichment activities within 30 days or face further consequences before the Security Council. The IAEA's 35-member board vote to send Iran to the council came after the country showed inspectors designs that may be used to make warheads and develop missile technology. The Security Council hasn't outlined what steps it will take against Iran for ignoring today's deadline. The U.S backs a resolution under the UN charter's Chapter 7, which allows measures up to the ``use of armed force.'' For a chapter 7 resolution to be issued, countries need to make the case that Iran is a threat to international peace and security, said an IAEA diplomat with knowledge of the investigation. Today's report doesn't address whether Iran is a threat, the diplomat said. ``We will now be asking the Security Council to increase the pressure on Iran,'' U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in a statement. The international community must be assured that Iran's nuclear program ``is not a threat to peace and security.'' Sanctions Bolton told reporters at the UN in New York that sanctions wouldn't be considered at first and U.S. diplomacy would increase the pressure on the Islamic republic in phases. Bush said diplomatic options on Iran are ``just beginning.'' A visit to Washington next week by German Chancellor Angela Merkel was so that the two leaders could confer on Iran, Bush said. British ambassador to the UN Security Council, Emyr Jones Parry, also told reporters at the UN that a resolution being prepared by the U.S., U.K. and France may make it ``mandatory'' that Iran cease uranium enrichment. ``This is all a calibrated approach which is reversible if Iran is prepared to comply fully with the wishes of the international community.'' He said. ``negotiations'' with Iran were the council's preferred solution. Bolton said the measure would offer Iran a ``brief'' time to comply. New Resolution The U.S. and U.K. want to introduce a new resolution invoking Chapter 7, which also provides for the ``interruption of economic relations'' and ``severance of diplomatic relations.'' China opposes such a move. The U.S., U.K., France, China and Russia are the permanent members of the council, each with veto rights over resolutions. Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said his government believes the Security Council shouldn't adopt a resolution under Chapter 7 because that would signal the end of diplomacy on the issue. Yesterday, President Vladimir Putin of Russia said the IAEA rather than the security council should take the lead role on the Iranian issue. ``We want to work for a diplomatic solution,'' Wang said. ``This region is already complicated. There are a lot of problems. We should not do anything to cause the region to be more complicated. Chapter 7's implications are clear. All we want is a diplomatic solution. Invoking Chapter 7 would make it more complicated.'' Diplomatic Solution The report said that Iran was willing to give information clarifying the IAEA's questions by May 20 provided that deliberations remain within the agency's authority in Vienna. U.S. Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte said April 20 that Iranian officials may be ``exaggerating their program'' and that they wouldn't have enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb for a ``number of years, perhaps into the next decade.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Tirone in Vienna at jtirone@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: April 28, 2006 12:29 EDT