IAEA Freezes Some Aid to Iran

The International Atomic Energy Agency has suspended some of its technical assistance programs in Iran, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 17).

The decision follows last month’s unanimous U.N. Security Council decision to bar any international trade or assistance that could help Iran’s nuclear fuel production facilities.

The agency’s governing board is due to review the temporary freeze in March, diplomats said.

An agency review of its assistance programs grouped them in three categories:  programs in which the council ban clearly applied, ones in which it clearly did not and a “gray list” of projects requiring further examination, according to another diplomat.

“Whatever is absolutely clearly banned by the resolution is now on hold,” the diplomat said, adding that the resolution was “a clear prohibition by the Security Council, specifically applying to enrichment, reprocessing and heavy-water (production)” (George Jahn, Associated Press I/San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 17).

Speaking in Paris, agency head Mohamed ElBaradei expressed concern today that the diplomatic standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions could worsen.

“My worry right now is that each side is sticking to its guns,” he said.  “We need someone to reach out.”

The Security Council actions could cause further tension.

“Sanctions in my view could lead to escalation on both sides,” ElBaradei said (Associated Press II/International Herald Tribune, Jan. 18).

The cohesive council action probably surprised Iran, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said yesterday.

“The government of Iran assumed that the international community would not remain united.  It didn’t think we could get the resolution on sanctions before Christmas,” she said.  “But we have — and we got it with unanimity.  I think that reality is beginning to be recognized.”

She urged Iran to suspend its nuclear programs and return to the negotiating table.

“At present the government in Tehran continues to say that it will not do so,” she said.  “So far they have regarded this as a cost-free option — and it isn’t” (Sophie Walker, Reuters, Jan. 17).

Political opponents to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have recently expressed similar sentiments, AP reported today (see GSN, Jan. 16).

“That all 15 members of the Security Council unanimously voted, against the claim of our diplomatic apparatus that there was no unanimity against Iran, shows the weakness of our diplomatic apparatus,” said reformist lawmaker Noureddin Pirmoazzen.

“Resisting the U.N. Security Council resolution will put us in a more isolated position,” said a statement from the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the nation’s largest reform party (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press III/Washington Times, Jan. 18).

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