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Europeans Drafting Strong Resolution Criticizing Iran
British, French and German officials are composing a harshly worded resolution that would criticize Iran for hiding its nuclear development for almost two decades, Reuters reported Friday (see GSN, Nov. 14). It is unlikely, however, that the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors will send the Iranian nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council, according to Reuters. The board is scheduled to begin meeting Thursday. “It would be extremely difficult, or simply impossible, to reach a consensus on noncompliance (with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty),” a diplomat in Vienna said. Most board members, the diplomat added, favor “a strongly worded resolution that sends a very strong message” to Iran. Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Akbar Salehi, said that “things could very easily get out of control” if the issue is sent to the Security Council (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters, Nov. 14). Such a move “could lead to consequences that none of us would like to witness,” Salehi said. Iran’s failure to disclose aspects of its nuclear program over the past 18 years came as the result of “mistakes,” he said. “I think the majority of the board members think that way, the overwhelming majority,” Salehi added (George Jahn, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Nov. 15). Iran’s top national security official, Hassan Rohani, is set to meet with senior European Union officials in Brussels today in preparation for the IAEA board meeting. “The talks will focus on Iran’s nuclear activities and bilateral relations,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said. “The Islamic republic’s steps in building trust and transparency have been widely welcomed, and more discussions will make the atmosphere clearer,” he added (Agence France-Presse, Nov. 17). Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said today that Iran has opened its nuclear program to world scrutiny and should not be sanctioned. “Sanctions are unacceptable as nothing has been discovered,” he said. “Iran has shown everything it has (in the nuclear field). It is hard to imagine Iran still has something to disclose,” he added (Agence France-Presse II, Nov. 17).
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