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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Iran’s nuclear history
The international % TURKMEN
The International
Atomic Energy
Agency passed a
toned-down
resolution Monday
on policing Iran’s
vow to freeze all
programs linked to
uranium
enrichment.
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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
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200 mi
o,
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Western
diplomats said
IAEA found
Pakistani
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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
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