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Iran Threatens to Rescind Additional Protocol
Iran warned today that it could halt application in the country of the Additional Protocol, which allows for more intrusive inspections of its nuclear facilities, if it continues to be threatened with U.N. Security Council referral over its nuclear program (see GSN, Sept. 14). Tehran “will be forced to go back on all of its voluntary concessions, particularly the application of the Additional Protocol,” the Foreign Ministry told the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose Board of Governors on Saturday rebuked Iran for failing to adequately disclose its nuclear activities. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Tehran could also resume uranium enrichment or imitate North Korea’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, according to Agence France-Presse. “If the agency and Europe show harsh behavior, they will push us towards the direction of taking proportional and harsher steps,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Sept. 27). Iranian parliament Deputy Speaker Mohammad-Reza Bahonar said today he expects overwhelming passage of a bill curtailing IAEA inspectors’ access to the country’s nuclear installations, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported. Lawmakers are scheduled to discuss the bill in a closed-door session today, according to DPA. Bahonar said that the bill would oblige Tehran to end the implementation of the Additional Protocol if the country’s nuclear dossier were brought before the U.N. Security Council (Deutsche Presse-Agentur/Khaleej Times, Sept. 27). As of yesterday, however, Iran had not carried out its threat to resume uranium enrichment or to reduce agency access to nuclear installations, diplomats close to the agency told the Associated Press (George Jahn, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 26). Meanwhile, the Bush administration yesterday warned Tehran it has one chance left to avoid Security Council referral, AP reported. “The world has put Iran on notice,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack urged Iran to end its “defiant actions.” “There is a growing majority of nations that recognize Iran’s noncompliance must be addressed,” McCormack said (Jennifer Loven, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 26).
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