Seals Are Removed at Nuclear Site in Iran

[FHwku]

from NYtimes

August 10, 2005
Seals Are Removed at Nuclear Site in Iran
By THOMAS FULLER,
International Herald Tribune

VIENNA, Aug. 10 - Iran said today that seals had been removed from uranium-converting equipment at its plant in Isfahan, and that activities there would resume.

The deputy director of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Saeedi, told Reuters that Iran had received permission from the United Nations nuclear monitoring agency to remove the seals.

"Some minutes ago we received a letter from the I.A.E.A. authorizing Iran to remove the seals at Isfahan plant," Mr. Saeedi was quoted as saying, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"Two hours ago the installation of surveillance cameras finished," he said. "The I.A.E.A. inspectors will oversee the removal of seals."

Removing the Isfahan seals, which were put in place last year by the United Nations agency under a voluntary agreement, means that Iran will be able to resume the second phase of the uranium conversion process, which Iran says it is pursuing for its civilian nuclear program.

Production remains suspended on the more sensitive part of Iran's nuclear fuel program, the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, a plant that Tehran kept secret for about two decades years until it was revealed in 2002.

Iran resumed the first phase of uranium conversion on Monday and diplomats at the International Atomic Energy Agency are divided about how to respond. A meeting of the agency's governing board previously scheduled for today was canceled because diplomats could not agree on how to rebuke Iran for resuming activities that could lead to development of an atomic weapon.

Developing countries, represented by Malaysia, made a joint statement at the talks Tuesday affirming the "basic and inalienable right of all member states to develop atomic energy for peaceful purposes."

Britain, France and Germany are pushing for a forceful response, but do not plan on immediately referring the case to the United Nations Security Council.

"Negotiations continue among the 35 members states of the I.A.E.A. board of governors to reach consensus on language that will be presented to the full board," said Peter Rickwood, a spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran struck a combative stance at the meeting Tuesday, calling its uranium conversion program a "jewel."

"The operation in Isfahan will continue," Cyrous Nasseri, Iran's delegate to talks, told reporters after an extraordinary meeting of the agency's governing board.

"There is no reason to suspend this activity," he said.

Diplomats from the 35 countries represented on the governing board, which includes countries as diverse as China, India, Japan, Korea, Britain, Yemen, Slovakia and the United States, are seeking consensus on the issue rather than a majority vote, I.A.E.A. officials said.

An early draft of a resolution obtained by The Associated Press expressed "serious concern" about the resumption of conversion in Isfahan and urged Iran to cooperate by "re-establishing full suspension of all enrichment-related activities."

The specific process that Iran restarted on Monday is the first step in a lengthy process to convert uranium into nuclear fuel and is used both for civilian and military purposes.

Iran says it will use the materials for its program to generate electricity through nuclear power.

At the talks Tuesday the leader of the American delegation, Greg Schulte, said the United States shared its European allies' "deep concern about the course Iran is taking."

"Iran must not be allowed to violate its international commitments and must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons," Mr. Schulte said.

Asked for his reaction, Mr. Nasseri, the head of the Iranian delegation, issued a biting retort.

"Today is the commemoration of the bombing of Nagasaki," he told reporters on Tuesday. "The United States is the sole nuclear weapons state which had the guts to drop a bomb to kill and maim and turn into ashes millions in a split second.

"The United States is no position whatsoever to tell anyone and to preach to anyone as to what they should or should not do in their nuclear program."

In Tehran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made similarly strong comments, calling treatment of uranium "our right," according to the ISNA news agency.

Speaking by telephone to the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, Mr. Ahmadinejad said he would continue negotiations with Britain, France and Germany, the three countries leading a European Union effort to circumscribe Iran's nuclear program.

But Mr. Ahmadinejad repeated rejections of a European package of economic, trade and security incentives for Iran to curtail their nuclear activities. "What the Europeans sent us is not a proposal but an insult to our people," Mr. Ahmadinejad said. "Their tone is as though Iranian people are a backward nation."

Iran says it wants to generate electricity through nuclear power, as is its right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The United States is concerned that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, and argues that Iran essentially forfeited its right to a full nuclear program by deceiving inspectors for years about the extent of its activities.

dang.