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Monday, January 14, 2008 :
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Iran nuclear probe sets four-week deadline.
IRAN’S leaders agreed to answer all remaining questions about their country’s past nuclear activities within four weeks in talks with the UN’s chief nuclear inspector, his spokeswoman said yesterday.
The spokeswoman also said International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei received information on Iran’s “new generation of centrifuges” — a priority as the agency tries to establish how advanced Iran is in developing the technology.
The four-week deadline is meant to wrap up an agency probe of past Iranian nuclear programs. A diplomat familiar with the talks said the investigation was focused on the most delicate aspects of Iran’s past atomic work, including programs linked with US suspicions the country conducted nuclear arms experiments.
The probe was to be completed in December, and the US and its allies have been chafing at the delay, say agency diplomats.
In Abu Dhabi yesterday, US President George W Bush said Iran “defies the UN and destabilises the region by refusing to be open and transparent about its nuclear programmes and ambitions”. He also said Iran funds terrorist extremists, undermines stability in Lebanon, sends arms to the Taliban regime and intimidates its neighbours with alarming rhetoric.
“The US is strengthening our security commitments with our friends in the Gulf, and rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late,” he said.
Mr ElBaradei yesterday ended a two-day visit to Tehran that included unprecedented meetings with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, and President Mahmoud Amhmadinejad.
The diplomat said Mr ElBaradei pressed his case for the need for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, a UN Security Council demand.
However, a senior diplomat expressed doubt Mr ElBaradei was able to persuade the Iranians to freeze enrichment and noted Western efforts for additional UN sanctions against the Islamic republic would continue unless that condition was met.
The statement from Mr ElBaradei’s spokeswoman, Melissa Fleming, said the Tehran talks included “confidence-building measures called for by the Security Council” — the council has demanded Iran suspend enrichment — which can create nuclear fuel and the fissile core of warheads. It has additionally urged the government to restore broader inspection rights for the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Alluding to the agency probe of Tehran’s nuclear activities launched last year, Ms Fleming said the talks resulted in agreement that the “work plan should be completed in the next four weeks”.
Shortly before Mr ElBaradei’s trip, diplomats told the AP Tehran had ended years of stonewalling and begun providing some information on topics including whether it ever had a military nuclear program and the state of its enrichment technology.
“Iran also provided information on its research and development activities on a new generation of centrifuges,” said Ms Fleming’s statement.
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