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U.N. Wants Answers from Iran on Controversial Nuclear Program

By David McKeeby

If Iran's controversial nuclear program is as peaceful as Tehran claims, the United Nations' top nuclear guardians want to know why it may have included side research into high explosives, warhead designs and other projects with "possible military dimensions."

"Iran has not provided the agency with all the access to documents and to individuals requested by the secretariat, nor has Iran provided the substantive explanations required to support its statements," Mohammed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in Vienna, Austria. The IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors began weeklong meetings there June 2.

ElBaradei criticized Iran's leaders for their continued refusal to address these allegations, which he called "a matter of serious concern."

"Iran may have additional information, in particular on high explosives testing and missile-related activities, which could shed more light on the nature of the alleged activities," ElBaradei said. "I again urge Iran to be fully forthcoming in this regard."

The June 2-6 meeting follows ElBaradei's May 26 report on Iran, which featured summaries of 18 intelligence documents submitted from 10 countries, including the United States. The documents made public new evidence that Iran's uranium enrichment program may be concealing a secret effort to develop nuclear weapons. (See "U.N. Agency Report Critical of Iran's Nuclear Cooperation." ( http://www.america.gov/st/peacesec-english/2008/May/20080527151014dmslahrellek0.7978784.html?CP.rss=true ))

"Iran's nuclear file remains wide open and full of troubling questions," said Ambassador Gregory Schulte, the Unites States' representative to the IAEA. "There are strong reasons to suspect that Iran was working covertly and deceitfully at least until recently to build a nuclear bomb."

ElBaradei's concerns are compounded by Iran's 2006 decision to suspend the IAEA's access to conduct snap inspections of Iranian nuclear sites for unauthorized activities. Since then, the U.N. Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions on government agencies, Iranian officials, banks and other institutions linked to the program.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana is expected to travel to Tehran in the coming weeks to present officials with a new package of incentives developed by the "P5+1" - Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany - in the latest effort to convince Iran to suspend enrichment and negotiate.

"I have told the Iranians that when they do the one thing that the entire international community is demanding that they do, that is suspend their enrichment and reprocessing, we can meet anytime, anyplace, anywhere and talk about anything," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "I don't think the question is why won't we talk to Tehran. I think the question is why doesn't Tehran want to talk to us."

NUCLEAR INSPECTORS TO VISIT SYRIAN SITE

ElBaradei also announced that Syria has agreed to admit U.N. nuclear inspectors June 22-24 to investigate an alleged covert nuclear reactor destroyed in a 2007 Israeli airstrike.

Senior officials briefed members of Congress and the media April 24 on the al-Kibar facility in Syria's remote northeast desert, where U.S. intelligence indicates Syria received help from North Korean nuclear engineers to build a reactor capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium without notifying the IAEA, as required by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (See "Syria Did Not Disclose Building Nuclear Reactor." ( http://www.america.gov/st/peacesec-english/2008/April/20080425142432dmslahrellek0.9860041.html ))

"Syria, like all states with comprehensive safeguards agreements, has an obligation to report the planning and construction of any nuclear facility to the agency," ElBaradei said. "We are therefore treating this information with the seriousness it deserves."

In recent satellite photos, analysts said, Syria appears to have razed the site and built a new structure, in what may be an effort to erase evidence before of inspections. "Let's hope that the Syrian efforts haven't been too effective in covering up what it is they were trying to cover up - the nuclear facility and reactor on their grounds," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

"There were people surely who worked on that reactor and who have intimate knowledge and can provide the IAEA important information," McCormack added. "And let's hope that those people not only are made available to the IAEA, but are entirely forthcoming to IAEA requests."

Source: U.S. Department of State