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Iran Wants Assurance That Additional Protocol Will Be Enough Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said yesterday that U.N. inspectors will only be allowed unfettered access to Iran’s nuclear activities if that gesture ends the debate on Tehran’s nuclear intentions (see GSN, Sept. 26). “The question is if something is not enough, why should we sign it?” asked Kharazi. He said that Iran would not agree to end its civilian uranium enrichment program, as Washington has demanded. If signing the Additional Protocol to its international safeguards agreement “would solve our problems, and remove all the suspicions, and (then we were able to continue) with our legal activities, including the enrichment of uranium, in principle we have no problem,” he added (Dinmore/Turner, Financial Times, Sept. 28). U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday, however, that signing the Additional Protocol “in and of itself isn’t enough.” “We have to have all questions with respect to their nuclear weapons program answered. … Over the past year, the evidence that has come forward, that is now before the IAEA, has made it clear to the world that there is something going on in Iran with respect to nuclear weapons development that goes beyond their nuclear power industry,” he added. Kharazi said Iran wants to work with the International Atomic Energy Agency. “We are trying and we are determined to cooperate,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Sept. 29). British Europe Minister Denis MacShane said today that Iran must “unequivocally” declare that it has not nuclear weapons aspirations. “We want Iran to state unequivocally that there are no nuclear weapon possibilities that could be developed as a result of any nuclear program in Iran,” he said. “That’s what the entire international community wants from Iran and I hope Iran is listening to that common and uniform demand from everybody in the international community,” MacShane added (Agence France-Presse/EU Business, Sept. 29). Iran also warned Israel not to launch an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. In 1981 Israel destroyed a French-built nuclear power plant in Iraq. “Israel knows that if it commits such an action … there will be a response,” Kharrazi said (Barbara Slavin, USA Today, Sept. 29). IAEA inspectors are due to arrive in Tehran Thursday for nuclear inspections and talks with Iranian officials, according to Reuters (Parinoosh Arami, Reuters, Sept. 28). A senior Iranian official today confirmed that inspectors discovered a second site containing traces of enriched uranium. Iran’s representative to the IAEA, Ali Akbar Salehi, said that the traces of enriched uranium came from contaminated imported equipment, and were not produced in Iran (Voice of America, Sept. 29). Russian Aid to Continue Russian President Vladimir Putin — in the United States for meetings with U.S. President George W. Bush — said that he would urge Iran to cooperate with the IAEA but he would not stop the joint Russian-Iranian effort to build a nuclear power plant at Bushehr. Putin said he would send “a clear but respectful signal to Iran.” “As to the joint work [on the reactor], we are ready to pursue it,” he added. Bush said that the countries were not sharply divided on the issue. “You hear the president say that the IAEA process must go forward. We firmly agree. I found this part of our discussions to be very satisfactory,” Bush said (David Sanger, New York Times, Sept. 28). “The most important thing that came out of these meetings was a reaffirmation of our desire to work together to convince Iran to abandon her ambitions, as well as to work with other nations so that there is a common voice on this issue,” according to Bush (White House release, Sept. 27).
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