Global Security Newswire

China and Russia yesterday pressed Iran to help the International Atomic Energy Agency monitor the Middle Eastern nation's nuclear program, Reuters reported (see GSN, Sept. 7).

Tehran's longtime economic allies issued the call one day after the U.N. nuclear watchdog noted in a report that Iran had vetoed the appointment of certain inspectors for its atomic work.

Iran has consistently denied allegations by the United States and other nations that its nuclear program is geared toward weapons production (see related GSN story, today).

"We hope that Iran and the agency can fully cooperate, and establish the trust of the international community in the peaceful nature of their nuclear plants," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

The official called for further dialogue aimed at achieving a "long-term and appropriate resolution" to the atomic standoff.

"The IAEA must continue its work ... Iran must answer the demands of the IAEA," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said (John Irish, Reuters, Sept. 8). "We exhort Iran to prove it is acting in good faith and to respond to the requests by the IAEA," Agence France-Presse quoted him as saying (Agence France-Presse I/Now Lebanon, Sept. 7).

Experts said Tehran appeared to taking a more aggressive nuclear stance in response to a fourth sanctions resolution adopted this summer by the U.N. Security Council, the Christian Science Monitor reported yesterday.

“What we are seeing is an accelerating loss of transparency into Iran’s nuclear fuel cycle program,” said Shannon Kile, an atomic analyst with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. “I’m not surprised ... that the Iranians are becoming even less cooperative than before. Everyone expected after the last (U.N. vote) that the Iranians would find some way to retaliate.”

“The fear is that the Iranians are going down a path that has been trodden before, (in which) the outcomes have not been happy ones,” Kile said. North Korea “basically stonewalled the IAEA for 5 1/2 years ... from the time they signed the" Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (see related GSN story, today).

“This is typical Iranian hardball tactics, saying ‘Two sides can play tough, what are you going to do about it?’” added Shahram Chubin, an analyst for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “I hesitate to say they are reading the letter of the (safeguards) agreement -- they are even reading less (and) are certainly not holding to the spirit, which is to have inspectors reassure the agency of what you are doing.”

“The regime is moving on as fast as it can [in its uranium enrichment program] -- neither faster nor slower than usual -- just as fast as it can. And eventually it will get [a nuclear-weapon capability],” Chubin said. “They think they are not going to get a clean bill of health, whatever they do -- that’s really the bottom line.”

The expert urged Washington and allied governments to offer Tehran additional incentives in exchange for atomic cooperation.

“I don’t think the West has asked: ‘What will we give them?’ I know it sounds like rewarding proliferation and so on, but what [Iranian nuclear capabilities] can we live with?” Chubin asked. “(Iran) will get there, unless the West comes up with a package (and decides) what they would accept as a bottom line” (Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 7).

Moscow indicated the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany might alter their proposed terms for settling the nuclear dispute, RIA Novosti reported.

"We have been maintaining contacts with the Iranian side on the basis of the position of the [P-5+1], which was agreed on three years ago, but it would, most likely, not hurt to re-examine this document as part of preparations for restarting talks, to see to what extent it, in all its parts, accurately reflects the essence of the current situation," Lavrov said (RIA Novosti, Sept. 7).

The Kremlin's top diplomat called for Russian, U.S. and French delegates to meet soon to discuss a potential exchange of Iranian uranium, according to Interfax.

One plan -- negotiated by Iran, Brazil and Turkey -- calls for the Middle Eastern state to store 1,200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium in Turkey for one year; other countries would be expected within that period to provide nuclear material refined for use at a Tehran medical research reactor in exchange for the Iranian material.

The arrangement appeared similar to another proposal, formulated in October by the International Atomic Energy Agency, that was intended to defer Iran's enrichment activities long enough to more fully address U.S. and European concerns about its potential nuclear bomb-making capability. Tehran ultimately rejected the IAEA proposal worked out with France, Russia and the United States. Those nations, known as the "Vienna group," subsequently expressed concerns about the later agreement.

"The Vienna group has a consolidated position that has been agreed upon with the IAEA," he said. "The Iranian side announced its readiness to discuss this issue, and we expect to hear a constructive and rapid response" (Interfax, Sept. 7).

Meanwhile, South Korea today announced it would penalize 102 Iranian organizations -- including the Revolutionary Guard and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines -- as well as 24 people to pressure Iran over its nuclear activities, the Associated Press reported.

Seoul indicated it would target its ties with Iranian financial institutions, hitting 15 Iranian banks with punitive measures and banning the establishment of new offices in South Korea. Bank Mellat, one of the penalized institutions, has "facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions for Iranian nuclear, missile and defense entities" though its Seoul office, the South Korean government said in a statement (Sangwon Yoon, Associated Press/Google News, Sept. 8).

Bank Mellat, responsible for 70 percent of South Korea's exports to Iran, must now receive permission from the Asian country's central bank to carry out any financial transaction, the New York Times reported. The firm's Seoul office would no longer be permitted to carry out wire transfers to Iran from another nation. In addition, Seoul is expected to halt all work at the bank for an undisclosed period; South Korean media reported the suspension would last two months.

“The Seoul branch cannot operate normally anymore,” a high-level South Korean Foreign Ministry official said (Choe Sang-hun, New York Times, Sept. 8).

The United States is said to have urged Seoul to shut down the bank's office, the Wall Street Journal reported (Evan Ramstad, Wall Street Journal I, Sept. 8).

“With these measures, we hope for the Iranian government to take part in international efforts on nuclear nonproliferation, and also faithfully implement its duties under the U.N. resolution,” South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun said (Kim Ji-hyun, Korea Herald I, Sept. 8).

Iran did not react right away today to the sanctions announcement, the Korea Herald reported.

“There is nothing to disclose over the issue for the time being,” said an Iranian Embassy official representing Mohammad Reza Bakhtiari, the nation's ambassador to South Korea. The embassy “has no immediate plans” to comment on the new penalties, the official added (Shin Hae-in, Korea Herald II, Sept. 8).

Elsewhere, the United States yesterday placed Iran's European-Iranian Trade Bank AG on its list of targeted entities, the Journal reported. The institution is now prohibited from access to the U.S. financial network.

"As one of Iran's few remaining access points to the European financial system, EIH has facilitated a tremendous volume of transactions for Iranian banks previously (blacklisted) for proliferation," U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey said (Peter Fritsch, Wall Street Journal II, Sept. 8).

Iran's supreme religious leader yesterday said his nation would sidestep the new penalties, AFP reported.

"The enemies of the nation seek to frustrate the people with economic pressures so the people blame the government for them and ties are cut between the government and the people," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech. "But the nation and officials will undoubtedly circumvent the sanctions and render them ineffective just as (they have) in the past three decades" (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Sept. 7).

Iran has carried out an emergency response to international sanctions, obviating Tehran's need to purchase gasoline from abroad as of last week, the Xinhua News Agency quoted Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi as saying yesterday.

"By implementing the plan, the daily production of gasoline was increased to [17.6 million gallons]," state media quoted the official as saying (Xinhua News Agency, Sept. 7).