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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 2004)
U.N. agrees to Iran's nudear weapons program Proposed deal for policing Iranian enrichment freeze prohibits reprocessing plutonium BY GEORGE JAHN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS VIENNA, Austria — The U.N. nu clear agency agreed Monday on a plan for policing Iran’s nuclear pro grams designed to avoid a show down at the United Nations. But Iran’s representative immediately raised questions about the wording of the pact, and the United States said it retained the right to take the case to the U.N. Security Council on its own. U.S. chief delegate Jackie Sanders listed more than a dozen open ques tions about Iran’s past nuclear activi ties still before the International Atomic Energy Agency, despite a nearly two-year investigation. “This makes it clear that the IAEA cannot ... offer the necessary assur ances that Iran is not attempting to produce nuclear material for weapons,” she said. Sanders spoke shortly after the board passed a toned-down resolu tion authorizing IAEA head Mo hamed ElBaradei to monitor Iran’s commitment to freeze uranium en richment activities that can produce either low grade nuclear fuel or the raw material for atomic weapons. The issue of what’s included in the suspension of activities had dominat ed the meeting since it opened Thurs day, with the Iranian insistence on exempting some equipment forcing the meeting to continue Monday, af ter a weekend adjournment. The United States — which has la beled Iran part of an “axis of evil” with North Korea and prewar Iraq — wants the Islamic Republic referred to the Security Council, where it could face sanctions for allegedly violating the Nuclear Nonprolifera tion TYeaty. “We believe Iran’s nuclear weapons program poses a growing threat to international peace and security,” Sanders said, alluding to the possibility of a unilateral U.S. push. “Any member of the United Nations may bring to the at tention of the Security Council any situation that might endanger the maintenance of international peace and security.” White House press secretary Scott McClellan urged vigilance, telling re porters in Washington “the imple mentation and verification of the agreement is critical.” France, Germany and Britain, who negotiated a Nov. 7 agreement with Iran on the suspension, came to the meeting saying the deal meant that all equipment used for enrichment must be at a standstill. Iran, which insists its nuclear program is peace ful, had demanded it be allowed to run 20 centrifuges for research. Seeking to avoid tough measures by the board that could have led to refer ral to the Security Council, Iran deliv ered a letter to the agency Sunday pledging “not to conduct any testing with these sets of components.” Hossein Mousavian, the chief Iranian delegate to the meeting said the commitment meant “we are not going to introduce material or any gas” into the centrifuges — a pledge that seemed to fall short of the Eu ropean demands. Later, Iranian delegate Cyrus Nasseri appeared to move closer to the European interpretation, telling reporters Iran “will not” run even empty centrifuges. The enrichment process involves introducing uranium hexafluoride gas into centrifuges that spin them to low-level nuclear fuel or highly en riched uranium used in the core of nuclear warheads. Delegates to the meeting, includ ing senior diplomats with nuclear ex pertise, suggested the contradictory language was meant to ease fears among Iranian hard-liners that Tehran gave up too much in exchange for a resolution that didn’t even include an indirect mention of possible Security Council referral. That lack of a “trigger mechanism” beginning the referral process in case of violations disappointed the United States, which insists Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons. The deal with the Europeans commits the Iranians to the freeze only during negotiations with France, Germany and Britain on economic, political and technologi cal aid from the 25-nation European Union. Those talks are set to start in mid-December. But ElBaradei urged Iran to keep suspension in place as long as possi ble. That, he said, was needed “to mitigate the confidence deficit” in Iran, its record of past clandestine ac tivities and continued reluctance to fully cooperate with an agency probe of its nuclear agenda. The proposed deal also commits Iran to a pledge not to reprocess plu tonium, which it would be able to do in several years’ time, once it com pletes work on a heavy-water reactor in the city of Arak. With the EU deal envisaging a light-water reactor for Iran, from which extraction of weapons grade nuclear material is difficult, diplomats said the Europeans hoped Iran would not complete its heavy-water facility. 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IRAQ ‘-<1 SAUDI ARABIA "It KUWAIT © % Key events since the U.S. learned of Iranian facilities ^ in mid-2002 U.S. learned of two secret Iranian nuclear facilities. : U.S. pressure i culminated in : U.N. resolution. 2QQ2 : 2003 \ Arak Heavy water production Natanz Uranium enrichment Saghand Uranium mines Isfahan Research reactors, uranium enrichment Bushehr Light water reactor under construction PAK. v~x, X" °_ 200 mi o, Cl " '*</■ .4 V 1 Western diplomats said IAEA found Pakistani 0 Iran admited enriching uranium enriched for electricity. uranium in Iran .. 2004" ’" : : A S O N D J F M A M J J A S 0 N P J F M A M J JASON 200 km IAEA called for full suspension of all enrichment-related activities after Iran admitted converting a few tons into gas. IAEA visited IAEA deemed Iran IAEA said IAEA said Iran Natanz; uranium agreed to Iran inquired Iran announced learned Iran samples from inspec could build Iran pure tions. more enough to use centrifuges, in weapons. about buying planned to it has frozen black market process enrichment; centrifuge tons of raw IAEA will parts. uranium, monitor. SOURCES: Nuclear Threat Initiative; AP reports AP Congo prepares to protect eastern Rwanda border Unconfirmed reports of armed Rwandan troops crossing into Congo raise fears of reigniting war BY EDDY ISANGO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS KINSHASA, Congo — Congo in tends to send 10,000 reinforcements to ward its eastern border with Rwanda, a presidential spokesman said Monday, after credible reports that thousands of Rwandan troops crossed into its territo ry, raising fears of reigniting a devastat ing five-year regional war. A Western diplomat said Monday that thousands of Rwandan troops moved into the remote forested hills of east Congo — an account support ed by park rangers and local chiefs near the border of the two neighbors and wartime enemies. Rwanda refused to confirm or deny the reported incursion, and the U.N. mission in Congo said U.N. heli copter patrols and other sorties had failed to turn up any immediate sign of Rwandan troops. The reports of a Rwandan incur sion come just days after Rwanda threatened to send its forces into i r eastern Congo to hunt down Rwan dan Hutu rebels. Rwanda argued that a 5-month-old U.N.-led disarmament campaign there had failed to act ag gressively enough. In Kinshasa, Congo’s capital, Pres ident Laurent Kabila told internation al diplomats he would send reinforce ments toward the border to “assure the security of the civilian population and to contain the Rwandan aggres sion,” presidential spokesman Kudu ra Kasango said. Kasango and other Congolese au thorities said they had received no offi cial report of any Rwandan incursion. The Western diplomat, however, citing his embassy’s own sources, said “it is certain” that thousands of Rwandan forces had moved into ter ritory north of Congo’s main eastern city, Goma, since Friday. The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited what he said were accounts to his embassy from its CONGO, page 7 ATTENTION! Be your own boss. Business solutions for new and existing entrepreneurs. Call for free consultation 1-866-280-5857
