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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
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| By Associated Press February 4, 2006 |
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Iran's president Saturday ordered the resumption of uranium enrichment and an end to snap inspections of its facilities after the U.N. nuclear watchdog voted to report Tehran to the Security Council.
"As of Sunday, the voluntary implementation of the additional protocol and other cooperation beyond the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has to be suspended under the law," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a letter addressed to Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh.
Iran's parliament passed a law late last year requiring the government to block intrusive inspections of Iran's facilities if the country is put before the Security Council. It also required the government to resume all suspended nuclear activities, chief among them, uranium enrichment.
The state television report of the order said it was issued to Aghazadeh as head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
Twenty-seven of 35 member nations on the International Atomic Energy Agency board voted for referral, reflecting more than two years of intense lobbying by the United States and its allies to enlist broad backing for such a move. Washington critics Cuba, Venezuela and Syria voted against, and the rest abstained.
Still, the near consensus came at a price for Washington. Long an advocate of firm Security Council action against Iran, including possible political and economic sanctions, the Americans had to settle for what is essentially symbolic referral, for now.
"(Nuclear) research and development activities and preparations for utilizing the nuclear fuel production technology for peaceful purposes needs to be seriously enforced," Ahmadinejad said in his presidential order.
Admadinejad said the IAEA board reported Iran to the Security Council "under the pressure of a number of countries" and "without any legal justification."
He said the resolution "negates the national rights of Iranians" in using nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and said all Iranian activities will be carried out within the NPT.
"All peaceful nuclear activities of the country will be carried out within the framework of the IAEA regulations and (Iran's) obligations under NPT and the Safeguard Agreement," Ahmadinejad said.
Under the NPT, Iran is not required to allow short notice intrusive inspections of its facilities. In the past few years, Iran has allowed intrusive inspections of its nuclear and even military facilities as a good will gesture to build trust.
Ahmadinejad also ordered Aghazadeh to use "all scientists, scientific capacities of universities and research institutes ... to help flourish this local technology."
After years of opposition, Russia and China backed the referral last week, bringing support from other nations who had been waiting for their lead. But in return, Moscow and Beijing demanded that the Americans -- and France and Britain, the two other veto-wielding Security Council members -- agree to let the Iran issue rest until at least March. That is when the IAEA board meets again to review the agency's investigation of Iran's nuclear program and its compliance with board demands that it renounce uranium enrichment.
The IAEA resolution requests Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to "report to the Security Council" with steps Iran needs to take to dispel suspicions about its nuclear ambitions.
These include that it return to freezing uranium enrichment; consider stopping construction of a heavy-water reactor that could be the source of plutonium; formally ratify the agreement allowing the IAEA greater inspecting authority and give the nuclear watchdog more power in its investigation of Iran's nuclear program.
The draft also asks that ElBaradei provide the Security Council with his report to the March 6 IAEA board session, along with any resolution that meeting might approve.
A senior European diplomat familiar with the issue said there was general agreement among the five permanent Security Council members that -- if Iran remains defiant beyond March 6 -- the council would slowly increase pressure.
A first step could be a council declaration urging Iran to comply with the resolution, the diplomat said, demanding anonymity in exchange for discussing confidential strategy on Iran.
Agreement on the final wording of the text was achieved overnight, only after Washington compromised on a dispute with Egypt over linking fears about Tehran's atomic program to a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction -- an indirect reference to Israel.
The final resolution recognized "that a solution to the Iranian issue would contribute to global nonproliferation efforts and ... the objective of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, including their means of delivery."
The resolution and Ahmadinejad's order to resume enrichment and end intrusive inspections may provoke a major international crisis.
Tension rose to high levels last month after Iran removed U.N. seals and began nuclear research including small-scale uranium enrichment.
That came after months of futile talks between Iran and Britain, Germany and France which negotiated on behalf of the 25-nation European Union.
During the talks, Europeans insisted that Iran must permanently scrap its uranium enrichment, a technology that can produce nuclear fuel or bomb.
Iran rejected the demand and vowed it won't give up its right under NPT to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel.
Iran resumed uranium conversion last August, a step prior to enrichment after it called European demand for permanent halt to its nuclear program "illegal."
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