Iran yields to UN nuclear demands ( 2003-10-22 09:27) (Agencies)
Iran agreed on Tuesday to snap inspections of its
nuclear sites and to freeze uranium enrichment in what three visiting European
ministers hailed as a promising start to removing doubts about Tehran's atomic
aims.
But a senior Iranian official said Tehran would only halt uranium enrichment
-- seen by Washington as the heart of a possible bid for nuclear arms -- for as
long as it saw fit, prompting some analysts to suggest Iran was playing for
time.
French Foreign Minister, Dominique de
Villepin, left, British Foreign Minister, Jack Straw, center, and their
Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi, talk prior to a meeting with President
Mohammad Khatami, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2003.
[AP]
British, French and German foreign
ministers, who flew to Tehran with a carrot-and-stick deal aimed at convincing
Iran to comply with an October 31 U.N. deadline to prove it has no atomic bomb
ambitions, greeted the agreement as an important step forward rather than a
breakthrough.
"It's been an important day's work but you can only judge its significance in
time and through implementation," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told
reporters just before leaving the country after talks with Iranian officials.
The United States said agreement to freeze uranium enrichment could be a
positive step if fully carried out.
"Full compliance will now be essential," White House spokesman Scott
McClellan, who is with President Bush on an Asian tour, told reporters in
Singapore.
He said Iran should cooperate fully with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and end uranium enrichment and
reprocessing.
"What is important now is not only the words by the Iranians, but the action
to fully implement what their international obligations are," he said.
TALKS 'ENCOURAGING' -- IAEA
IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said the result of the talks was "encouraging,"
but said Iran had still to provide the U.N. with a full declaration of its past
nuclear activities.
By offering economic and technological benefits in return for nuclear
compliance, the big three European powers struck a different approach to
Washington, which generally opposes offering Tehran's clerical rulers any
rewards for cooperation.
Iranian Supreme National Security Council
Chief Hassan Rohani (L) welcomes EU Foreign Ministers Jack Straw, Joschka
Fischer (R) and Dominique de Villepin(2nd-R) at Tehran's Saadabad Palace
Oct. 21, 2003. [Reuters]
Iran's Supreme
National Security Council chief Hassan Rohani said Tehran would probably sign
the Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on
virtually unfettered snap inspections by a November 20 meeting of the IAEA
board.
"I don't think we will sign it before October 31 but probably before November
20," Rohani said.
According to the declaration agreed in Tehran, Iran said it would implement
the protocol before it had been ratified.
But Rohani was non-committal on how long Iran would maintain the freeze on
uranium enrichment.
"We voluntarily chose to do it, which means it could last for one day or one
year, it depends on us," he said. "As long as Iran thinks this suspension is
beneficial it will continue, and whenever we don't want it we will end it."
The official Iranian news agency later quoted him as saying Iran was not
prepared to abandon totally its uranium enrichment program.
Enriched uranium can be used to fuel reactors but if enriched further, can be
used in warheads.
The IAEA has found arms-grade enriched uranium at two facilities in Iran this
year. Iran blames the findings on contamination from parts it bought abroad on
the black market.
IRAN NOT YET IN CLEAR
Experts said the Tehran agreement, while a positive step, did not mean Iran
was in the clear.
But German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said on his return to Berlin that
the Iranian agreement might help prevent a repeat of the standoff with North
Korea, so long as the pledge was fully implemented.
"It is an effort to prevent us getting into a new conflict situation
analogous to the one on the Korean peninsular," he told reporters after
returning from a visit to Tehran with his British and French counterparts.
"I think it's worth the effort, but at the same time our attitude is one of
realism, not wishful thinking, so it comes down quite definitely to
implementation," he said.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told a news conference: "We
have achieved this morning important progress and we found a basis for agreement
on the three pending issues."
These were: immediate signature and early implementation of the additional
protocol to the NPT; full cooperation with the IAEA and suspension of all
uranium enrichment.
According to the Tehran declaration, the three European countries in turn
recognized Iran's right to develop a civilian nuclear energy program and held
out the prospect of "easier access to modern technology and supplies in a range
of areas."
