IAEA says Iran, Libya broke nuke rules
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Muhammad al-Baradai, has said both Iran and Libya have been guilty of long-term violations of their obligations under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
Al-Baradai told reporters on Monday before a closed-door meeting of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) he would inform the board of “two important cases of violation of the non-proliferation regime, these are by Libya and Iran”.
IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said separately Libya and Niger would sign the agency’s “Additional Protocol” on Wednesday giving UN inspectors the right to conduct intrusive, short-notice inspections. Iran has already signed the protocol.
The United States has vowed to keep up pressure on Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) board of governors meeting, to answer claims that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons.
Appeal
In Tehran, Iran’s top national security official declared on Sunday the Islamic republic would seek to have the IAEA close its file and list of concerns on the country’s nuclear programme.
“We must arrive at a stage where the (IAEA) board of governors … take this off the agenda,” Hasan Rowhani, the head of the Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying by state media.
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“We are absolutely determined not to reduce the pressure on Iran” |
“The international community has to accept Iran in the world nuclear club” as a peaceful user of atomic energy, he said.
But US Undersecretary of State John Bolton said in Lisbon last week: “We are absolutely determined not to reduce the pressure on Iran.”
He said, however, Washington would not seek a referral to the United Nations Security Council that could lead to sanctions over Iran’s continuing failure to declare possible weapons-related activities.
But the bottom line is that the United States does not have the backing at the IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors to take the matter to the Council.