U.S. Says Iran Violated Treaty Against Nuke Weapons

18/11/2003| IslamWeb

The United States accused Iran Tuesday of violating the global pact against atomic weapons by hiding its nuclear program from the United Nations, while Tehran urged the nuclear watchdog not bow to U.S. pressure. "The fact of the matter is that Iran has been in non-compliance" with its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Secretary of State Colin Powell told a news conference after what he called a "very candid discussion" with his European Union counterparts. Powell also criticized a draft resolution circulated by France, Germany and Britain before the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors meets Thursday to discuss an IAEA report on Iran's 18-year concealment of the full extent of its nuclear program. "We have some reservations about the resolution drafted...and we'll be in discussion with our EU colleagues and other members of the IAEA as to whether or not the resolution is strong enough to convey to the world the difficulties we've had with Iran over the years," Powell said. However, he said Iran appeared to be moving in the right direction by cooperating with the IAEA. The United States says Iran has a secret weapons program and wants the 35-nation IAEA board to declare the Islamic republic in "non-compliance" and report it to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions. Iran denies wanting an atomic bomb and urged the IAEA board not to give in to pressure from Washington. "The members of the board should not allow a country to impose its views on them and should act independently," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said. "America should abandon such useless pressures and stop imposing its ideas on the agency," he said in a statement faxed to Reuters in Tehran. **Revisions of Resolution*** The IAEA draft resolution, which will undergo revisions over the next few days, merely criticizes Iran for "failures to meet safeguards obligations," diplomats familiar with the text told Reuters. This is too weak for Washington, they said. Nowhere in the draft are the stronger words breach, violation or non-compliance used, any of which would likely be satisfactory to Washington. But a diplomat from a non-aligned country told Reuters board members were "definitely closer to a compromise" and predicted they would reach consensus. Diplomats said it was unclear how far the European trio could go to satisfy the Americans without breaking a tacit agreement they made on October 21 in Tehran. The three states pledged not to support a non-compliance resolution if Iran accepted snap IAEA inspections and suspended uranium enrichment. As a reward for honesty and transparency, the Europeans said they would consider an exchange of technology with Iran. "The Europeans emphasized that the new atmosphere will be a suitable one for expanding our relations," Hassan Rohani, head of Iran's powerful Supreme National Security Council, told Iranian state television. The United States has been puzzled by what it sees as Europe's leniency regarding Tehran's nuclear program and was surprised Monday when EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana praised Iran for its honesty. The IAEA said last week it had "no evidence" yet that Iran had a weapons program but the jury was still out on whether experiments with uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing which it hid from the IAEA were part of any such program.