Iranian Nuclear Programme Crisis

THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS regarding the Iranian nuclear programme controversy are the following :

1) On August 27, 2007, the IAEA issued an Information circular (PDF) containing the text of a work plan agreed between Iran and the IAEA, entitled “Understandings of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the IAEA on the Modalities of Resolution of the Outstanding Issues”.

A COMMENT BY THE IAEA HEAD OF SAFEGUARDS. – Mr. Olli Heinonen, IAEA Deputy Director General of Safeguards, has underlined the importance of the workplan recently agreed between Iran and the IAEA on the ‘Modalities of Resolution of the Outstanding Issues’, saying that it represents a significant step forward in the process of verifying the country’s nuclear programme. “What we have in front of us is a report that includes what we think is an important step because, for the first time in a couple of years, we have been able to agree with the Iranians a working arrangement on how to resolve the outstanding issues that triggered all the Security Council procedures sometime ago,” he commented. “In this working arrangement we have the actual modalities of the work, the procedural steps to be taken as well as some fine lines defined and how we are going to address these. When you read the plan you see this is not an open-ended timeline: there are certain linkages in this approach, but it’s important that it is not open-ended,” he said.

“The key now is that Iran adheres to this timeline, provides us with the information that we need and access to the information. This means access to the documentation, supporting documentation, equipment, sample taking, persons if needed, etc. Making a small nuance, this is the first time that Iran also has agreed to address the issue of alleged studies which are in paragraph E of the report – this relates to issues such as the Green Salt, etc. If we look at what happens next, Iran is now facing is the litmus test: that it can provide in a timely manner answers and the supporting information to the IAEA’s questions, which have been lacking particularly during the period 2004-2005 of our investigations. All these measures which you see there for resolving our outstanding issues go beyond the requirements of the Additional Protocol,” he said (full text on the IAEA website).

 2) On August 30, 2007, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei has circulated his latest report to the upcoming meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors on the Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The report covers developments since Dr. ElBaradei´s report of 23 May 2007. The 35-member Board will consider the report at its next meetings beginning in Vienna 10 September. The text of the report has not yet been released to the public by the IAEA, but can be found here (PDF format). It is entitled “Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

IRANIAN CONCERNS. – (a) Before August 27, 2007 :

1) Iran’s Majlis (Parliament) Speaker said on August 26, 2007 : “in case the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) does not support Iran’s right to make use of peaceful nuclear energy, the Iranian parliament will call the government to reconsider the current full cooperation with the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog. In his press conference in Tehran, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel referring to reports of the US plot to push another anti-Iran resolution through the UN Security Council, said: Iran’s parliament obliged the government to continue uranium enrichment activities for peaceful purposes, and the government has ably discharged its responsibility. This is what is in progress now.
He said Tehran expects the IAEA to discharge its duty by defending the rights of the agency’s member states against US political pressures. This way the IAEA would be able to maintain its legal credibility in the international arena” (full text at IRIB, Monday 27 August 2007).

2) Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini declared on August 26 that a new UN Security Council Resolution against Iran would influence the country’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and in such a case, Tehran would make the necessary decisions (see ‘Iran says new UN resolution would impact cooperation with IAEA’, in the August 27, 2007 edition of the Tehran Times, p. 1).

(b) After August 27, 2007 :

The Itanian Students Agency (ISNA) reported on 1st September 2007 that “Iran’s permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency called Mohammad Elbaradei’s report “one of the most positive reports issued by that agency up to this date.” “ElBaradei in his report to the IAEA Board of Governors has recognized the agreements reached between Iran and the IAEA as positive.” “Now it is the Board of Governors’ duty to keep and protect the results reached by the IAEA and Iran against all political intentions”. See also the analysis by Iranian expert Alireza Davari, reported by the Tehran Times edition of September 2, 2007 (p. 1), under the title ’ElBaradei report raises hope for an independent IAEA: analyst’ .

RUSSIAN REACTIONS. – Russia takes “a positive view of a report by the UN nuclear watchdog’s director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, on the Iranian nuclear program, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Saturday” (RIA Novosti, September 1, 2007). “We regard this plan as a positive step. It is important that the agreement be honored by Iran… which will be conducive to resolving Tehran’s nuclear problem,” Mikhail Kamynin said, adding that said Moscow is still studying the document”.

FOR THE BACKGROUND OF THE CONTROVERSY, SEE ALSO (a) Kile, S. N., ‘Nuclear arms control and non-proliferation’, SIPRI Yearbook 2006 : Armaments, Disarmament and International Security (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006) in PDF format, and (b) the file issued by the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, entitled “Some Facts and Materials about Iran’s Peaceful Nuclear Program”. 

Below is the video of a speech by Manouchehr Mottaki, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the UNSC (date unknown).