The draft resolution by Britain, Germany and France states that if Iran does not suspend all uranium enrichment-related activities within two months and if a report by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei in November is not positive, Iran’s nuclear dossier will be forwarded to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions against Iran, the diplomat said.
However, another diplomat familiar with the text told AFP that the resolution does not oblige the IAEA to take any specific action, falling short of U.S. demands for a so-called "trigger mechanism" that would oblige the agency to take Iran before the council if certain conditions were not met.
Reuters quoted a Western diplomat as saying, "It includes several possibilities. One is a report to the Security Council, which may or may not lead to economic sanctions. Another is that the board might choose to drop Iran from its agenda altogether. Or the IAEA just continues with Iran the way it's been going until now."
Iran has fully cooperated with the IAEA and signed the additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which allows for snap inspections. In addition, it has answered all the IAEA’s major questions, and the recent report submitted to the board members by ElBaradei confirmed the nuclear declarations of Tehran.
Draft resolution calls on Iran to suspend all enrichment-related activities
The draft resolution runs counter to the NPT and all IAEA rules and regulations, another diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity told our correspondent.
The draft resolution brings the so-called Euro 3 closer to Washington's hard line toward Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.
The source added that Europe has overlooked the previous agreements with Tehran and Iran’s transparent cooperation with the UN nuclear agency.
The diplomat said the deadline set by the EU trio ends before the U.S. presidential elections and this would show the Europeans’ compliance with the U.S. demands.
The source also said the three European countries have not even presented a copy of the draft text to the Iranian delegation to Vienna.
Iran will never abandon enrichment: Musavian
Hossein Musavian, head of Iran's delegation at the IAEA meeting said Iran was losing patience with UN inspections of its nuclear program and expected the agency to complete its investigation by the time the board met again in November, Reuters reported.
Musavian also announced that Iran’s agreement with the Europeans to halt uranium enrichment would soon come to an end.
He told reporters the suspension of uranium enrichment was a voluntary gesture by
Iran but it would be "just for a short, temporary period".
Musavian rejected the possibility that Iran would abandon the nuclear fuel cycle and said Tehran had done more than enough to assure the world its atomic intentions were peaceful.
"Iran has taken all the necessary confidence building measures," he said, adding that enrichment is the "legitimate right of all (IAEA) members".
"I believe that in November everything should be finalized," Musavian asserted.
He said the Iranian file "should be closed and go to the normal way (routine monitoring) and be followed up with safeguards," under the NPT.
Musavian said Iran would go ahead with plans to carry out the first step of the nuclear fuel cycle, namely converting uranium yellowcake mineral into the uranium hexafluoride gas that is the feedstock for enriching uranium.
Musavian said that Iran has not held any discussions with the Europeans on suspending the manufacture of nuclear industry centrifuges and centrifuge components.
Musavian told MNA that the Islamic Republic has not yielded to any of the European Union’s demands.
Iran only told EU officials that if they officially recognized the country’s right to enrich uranium, the Islamic Republic would allay their concerns about the possibility that Iran’s civilian nuclear program could be transformed into a weapons program, he added.
ElBaradei: no deadline for completion of Iran nuclear probe
Even though Iran said it expects the probe to wrap up in November, Mohamed ElBaradei, UN nuclear chief, said Monday that there was no deadline for ending an investigation into Iran's nuclear program, reported AFP.
"It's an open process and we will finish when I believe we are finished," quoted ElBaradei commented.
"On the assumption that everybody will give us a hand, I would like to see some of these issues clarified by the end of the year,"
ElBaradei told reporters.
British FM vows to keep pressure on Iran
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw vowed Monday to maintain pressure on Iran over its nuclear plans, warning that Tehran had made commitments and now must fulfill them.
Speaking at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, he said Iran has the right to develop nuclear technology for civilian purposes, but raised questions over Tehran's assurances about its nuclear plans, Reuters reported.
"We've taken a consistent line, a firm line in respect to Iran with our partners in France and in Germany," he said, referring to the other members of the trio of EU heavyweights who have led Europe's diplomatic drive with Tehran.
He said that Iran had promised the trio last October that it would suspend all uranium enrichment and related activities.
"Since then they have said that they are going to restart part of that process," Straw said.
"That has undermined confidence in the international community in Iran's intentions; they cannot turn the issue of confidence on and off like a tap."
Straw confirmed that a deadline was being discussed. "That's part of the discussions on the draft resolution in Vienna.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer also said Iran should abide by its commitments.
"We think Iran should do everything to meet its commitments. It is in their interests," he said, warning of "the risk of a miscalculation" by Tehran.
"I hope they realize that… otherwise we will find ourselves in a serious situation. It would be a miscalculation to think one could get out of an agreement we made," he added.
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MNA
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