WASHINGTON — Russia and China joined the United States and
its European allies on Friday in formally rebuking Iran over its nuclear
program at a meeting of the United Nations’ nuclear technology watchdog.
By a 25-3 vote with seven abstentions or absences, the board
of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, adopted a
German-drafted resolution condemning Iran’s for its nuclear program. The measure
also called on Tehran to halt enrichment of uranium, resolve questions about
its past nuclear activities, open its nuclear facilities to further inspection
and provide assurances it was not operating secret atomic research and
development sites.
U.S. officials said Friday that construction has continued
at a nuclear site near the Iranian city of Qom, a facility that CIA analysts
have concluded would be too small to be of use in supplying nuclear energy but
capable of producing enough enriched uranium to arm a nuclear warhead a year.
The project “raises obvious concerns, ones that the
international community has voiced in no uncertain terms to Tehran,” said
a U.S. counterterrorism official who requested anonymity because of the
sensitive nature of the issue.
Friday’s vote was the first time the 35-member IAEA board
took formal action against Iran since February 2006. It was triggered by
Tehran’s admission in September that it was building the previously undisclosed
enrichment facility inside a heavily protected mountain near Qom.
Although Moscow and Beijing joined the push for the
resolution, they have in the past been reluctant to cooperate in what might be
the next step: approving tough sanctions at the Security Council, where both
wield veto power. Friday’s censure measure did not threaten any immediate
action. Both countries have significant trade ties with Iran.
Iran reacted vehemently to the censure, threatening to
cancel unspecified “voluntary” cooperation with inspectors.
But both Iran and the West left the door open to further
negotiations. The U.S. envoy to the IAEA said the censure was not
“punitive” but signaled frustration with Iran. The U.S. remains ready
“to engage Iran to work toward a diplomatic solution to the nuclear
dilemma it has created for itself, if only Iran would choose such a
course,” Ambassador Glyn Davies, the envoy, said in a statement.
His Iranian counterparts, while condemning the resolution,
ruled out the possibility of withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty and barring inspectors from its nuclear facilities.
Iran and much of the international community are at odds
over Tehran’s nuclear research program, which Tehran insists is solely for
civilian purposes but its adversaries suspect is meant to eventually produce
weapons. The Obama administration has sought to reach out diplomatically to
Tehran as a way to overcome three decades of hostility and resolve the
standoff.
U.S. officials have told Western allies that the
administration wants to wait until the end of the year before pushing for new
sanctions against Iran.
But Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said in a
statement Friday that the “overwhelming” IAEA vote on Iran reflected
a “growing international deficit of confidence in its intentions.”
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
