Iran atom chief due at IAEA for 11th-hour talks

By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran’s nuclear energy chief headed to
11th-hour talks at the International Atomic Energy Agency on
Wednesday but the move looked too late to decisively alter an
imminent IAEA report to the U.N. Security Council.

Gholamreza Aghazadeh was due at the agency’s Vienna complex
two weeks after IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, in a rare visit
to Tehran, was rebuffed in requests that Iran “pause” its
uranium enrichment drive and address world doubt about its
nuclear aims.

Western powers suspect Iran’s professed goal to generate
nuclear energy for its economy is a smokescreen for a covert
atomic bomb project. But the Security Council is deeply split
over whether and how fast to pursue sanctions against Iran.

A war of words between Iran and the West has bubbled in the
countdown to ElBaradei’s report, due on Friday and widely
expected to judge Iran to have ignored a 30-day deadline set by
the Council on March 29 to suspend all enrichment-related work.

Aghazadeh was to meet ElBaradei’s deputy for nuclear
safeguards, Olli Heinonen, in the afternoon. Last week,
Heinonen canceled a pre-report factfinding trip to Iran after
concluding he would only be stonewalled once again by the
Iranians.

A Vienna-based diplomat close to IAEA operations in Iran
said Heinonen agreed to receive Aghazadeh in a fresh bid for
headway on questions about Tehran’s nuclear behavior still
outstanding after three years of IAEA probing.

“But whatever he tells us at this late stage, there would
be no time for inspectors to check and verify it before the
report comes out,” the diplomat said, asking not to be named in
exchange for discussing the confidential meeting.

“All ElBaradei can do is note any information received and
say he could not assess whether it was significant.”

TOO LATE?

Asked whether this could change the broad thrust of the
report, the diplomat said, “There seems no time for that now.”

The IAEA wants Iran to detail research into P-2
centrifuges, able to enrich uranium fuel to bomb-grade level
faster than the P-1 centrifuges it now operates, and credibly
clarify its possession of documents showing how to make an atom
bomb core.

Another key issue, the IAEA says, is Tehran’s failure to
explain intelligence reports of links between work on
processing of uranium ore, explosives tests and a missile
warhead design.

ElBaradei has said that, overall, Iran has not proven it
does not harbor a military nuclear program at undeclared
locations, and Tehran’s halt to short-notice IAEA inspections
in February has magnified such concerns.

The Islamic Republic threatened on Tuesday to freeze ties
with the IAEA — which Vienna diplomats said would amount to
quitting the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty — and accelerate
its atomic program if it were hit by international sanctions.

The crisis has escalated with Iran’s public spurning of the
Security Council’s March 29 call — Tehran has announced it can
purify uranium for use in fuelling power stations and that it
has an active P-2 centrifuge research program.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday it
was time for the Security Council to draft a Chapter 7
resolution. This would be binding under international law and
allow for sanctions or even military intervention, although
another resolution would be required to specify either step.

The United States, Britain and France favor sanctions
unless Iran bows to pressure soon but the council’s other
veto-holders, Russia and China, both with lucrative business
stakes in Iran, oppose punitive measures.

“It has always been China’s position that this Iranian
nuclear issue has to be solved diplomatically,” China’s
ambassador to the United Nations, Wang Guangya, said on
Tuesday.

“Therefore I think any resolution based on Chapter 7 will
not serve the purpose in this regard,” he said.

France provisionally scheduled a meeting on May 2 of
political directors of the council’s five permanent members
plus Germany to discuss next moves on Iran.