IAEA Governing Board Backs Nuclear Aid Cuts to Iran

By Greg Webb
Global Security Newswire

VIENNA — The International Atomic Energy Agency’s governing board today endorsed the organization’s decision to cancel 22 technical assistance projects with Iran, but Iranian officials vowed to press on with the nation’s nuclear activities (see GSN, March 7).

The consensus decision of the 35-nation board belied its members’ concerns over the move that was prompted by the U.N. Security Council’s December resolution barring the agency from helping Iran with anything but “food, agricultural, medical, safety or other humanitarian purposes.”

Egyptian Ambassador Ramzy Ezzeidin Ramzy told reporters, “I have not heard anyone express dissatisfaction” with the cuts, but a chairman’s summary of the board meeting suggested otherwise.

“Several members … stressed that technical cooperation should not be subject to any political conditions,” says the summary by Slovenian Ambassador Ernest Petric.  Other members pointed out that the agency had previously determined that the cut projects were peaceful when the programs were originally reviewed.

Still, the cuts were approved by consensus, ultimately reflecting the board members’ desire to support agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, according to a Western diplomat familiar with agency affairs.

“It is the logical thing to do,” Ramzy added.

Canceled programs include projects to improve human resources management in Iran’s atomic sector, to upgrade nuclear power technology, to establish a nuclear technology center and to provide some specific types of industrial technology.

The Security Council’s December resolution forced ElBaradei to review IAEA assistance programs in Iran. 

That resolution demanded that Iran freeze its uranium enrichment program within 60 days, a deadline that Tehran ignored.  Council powers have recently begun drafting a follow-up resolution (see related GSN story, today).

Here in Vienna, Iran appears unbowed by the international efforts to ramp up pressure.

“None of these [canceled] projects in fact are related to [the] enrichment program,” Iranian Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh told reporters today.

“The enrichment program will continue as planned,” he added.

Furthermore, Soltanieh hinted to the board that any international interference in its “inalienable rights” to nuclear energy could backfire.

The “Iranian nation is a peace-loving nation but will never tolerate any pressure or intimidation,” he said in a statement to the board.

Yesterday, Soltanieh said Iran could resist U.S. pressure but expressed concern about other nations.  He accused officials from Washington and a few other capitals of forcing other nations to join their Iran policies.

He suggested that outsiders would benefit by sitting in the board room.

“You have to witness the environment.  You have to see exactly what’s happening there in that room,” he said.  “You have to exactly know what poisonous food was cooked by a few members and sent to New York.”

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