VIENNA: Iran faced Western pressure yesterday to speed up its promised cooperation with a long-stalled UN nuclear watchdog investigation into suspected atomic bomb research by Tehran, something the Islamic state denies.
The United States, the European Union and others welcomed at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency signs that Iran has begun engaging with the IAEA inquiry but they also made clear Tehran must do much more to fully address their concerns.
US officials say it is vital for Iran to resolve the IAEA’s questions if parallel negotiations between Tehran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia on long-term settlement are to succeed.
Those talks aim to set verifiable, civilian limits to Iran’s nuclear activity and end punitive international sanctions imposed on Tehran.
The IAEA has long been investigating suspicions that Iran may have coordinated efforts to process uranium, test explosives and revamp a ballistic missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear warhead. Iran says the allegations are false but has offered to help clarify them since pragmatist Hassan Rowhani took office as Iranian president last year.
The EU — which groups three of the six powers seeking to negotiate a settlement to a decade-old dispute with Iran over its nuclear programme — noted that “some” progress had been made in the separate talks between Iran and the IAEA.
But, the 28-nation bloc added in a statement to a quarterly meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation governing board, “We call on Iran to provide all the relevant information to the agency, to address fully the substance of all of the agency’s concerns and to accelerate its cooperation with the agency.”
Canada’s ambassador to the Vienna-based IAEA put it more bluntly, saying Iran was using a kind of “salami-slicing way” in its dealings with the UN watchdog.
“We are definitely of the view that Iran is moving too slowly to address these long-standing questions. They do need to move faster,” Mark Bailey told Reuters.
Adding to the pressure, Group of Seven leaders meeting in Brussels this week are to call on Iran to cooperate fully with the IAEA and “resolve all outstanding issues”, according to a draft statement read to Reuters by an EU diplomat.
Tehran says its uranium enrichment programme is a peaceful energy project whereas the West fears it is covertly oriented to developing a nuclear weapons capability. Western diplomats have long accused Tehran of stonewalling the IAEA’s investigation.
Tehran’s talks with the IAEA and with the big powers are complementary as both focus on suspicions it may have secretly sought the means and expertise to assemble nuclear weapons.
After years of rising tension with the West — and fears of a new Middle East war erupting — last June’s election of Rowhani paved the way for a dramatic thaw in relations.
However, the sides remain far apart on what a final nuclear agreement should look like, with a self-imposed July 20 deadline approaching.
The IAEA inquiry into what it calls the possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme focuses on whether the country has worked on designing a nuclear warhead.
REUTERS
