IAEA head to visit Iran to meet leaders

WORLD / Middle East

 IAEA head to visit Iran to meet leaders
(AP)
Updated: 2006-04-08 09:15

Shrugging off U.S. opposition, the head of the International Atomic
Energy Agency will go to Tehran next week in hopes of securing nuclear
concessions from the Iranian leadership, diplomats and officials said
Friday.

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed
ElBaradei speaks as he was awarded with the 'Mund-auf' ('Speak your
mind') award in Karlsruhe, southern Germany, in this March 25, 2006 file
photo. Shrugging off U.S. opposition, the head of the International
Atomic Energy Agency will go to Tehran next week in hopes of securing
nuclear concessions from the Iranian leadership, diplomats and officials
said Friday April 7, 2006. [AP]

While the trip was meant to defuse tensions generated by fears Iran could
be seeking atomic weapons, a partial success by IAEA chief Mohamed
ElBaradei could exacerbate differences among the five permanent members
of the U.N. Security Council and derail U.S. hopes of firm action against
Tehran.

Iran could commit to meet some Security Council requests while falling
short of demands to freeze uranium enrichment, a possible pathway to
nuclear arms.

That could placate Russia and China, which oppose tough anti-Iran moves,
but fall short of full compliance sought by the United States, France and
Britain. The five countries wield veto power as permanent Security
Council members.

The 15-nation council, which can impose sanctions, already is split along
East-West lines on how tough it should be against Iran. If ElBaradei
receives commitments that please Moscow and Beijing, that would further
complicate U.S.-led efforts to secure a firmly worded resolution
demanding Iran comply.

The U.S. mission recently urged ElBaradei not to go and France and
Britain backed that request, but he decided to make the trip anyway,
diplomats accredited to the agency said, speaking on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the issue.

After-hour attempts to reach Vienna-based U.S. diplomats for comment were
unsuccessful.

The trip was unexpected, although diplomats close to the agency said
ElBaradei had a standing invitation from Iran to visit but was reluctant
to go without hopes of progress.

One diplomat warned against heightened expectations, saying ElBaradei
would not negotiate any settlement but expected to get some concessions.
A senior IAEA official said separately that ElBaradei expected positive
results from the trip, but was unlikely to get Tehran to recommit to a
freeze of enrichment activities.

Still, it appeared ElBaradei was hoping to wrest at least partial
concessions from Iran �� if not on enrichment, then on other issues of
concern to the international community, including a decision earlier this
year to cut back on the scope and frequency of IAEA inspections.

Other problems facing the agency include spotty information on Tehran's
enrichment program, leading to fears it might be hiding facilities beyond
the ones it has revealed to the IAEA.

The agency, which started investigating Iran more than three years ago
after learning it had been running a secret nuclear program for nearly
two decades, also is concerned with "dual use" experiments and materials
that could be used in nuclear weapons programs.

It has noted apparent military involvement in what Tehran says is
strictly a civilian program and earlier this year sounded the alarm over
drawings showing how to mold fissile material into the shape of warheads.

Tehran insists it is not interested in nuclear weapons and refuses to
re-impose a temporary freeze on enrichment, saying it has a right to that
activity to make nuclear fuel under the Nonproliferation Treaty.

Enrichment uses centrifuges to spin uranium gas to low-grade levels,
suitable for fuel, or highly fissile material, which can be used to make
bombs.

While it plans to run thousands of centrifuges in its drive to run a
full-scale enrichment program, Tehran's known enrichment capabilities are
now restricted to a 164-centrifuge pilot plant at Natanz.

Officials familiar with the facility say it could start operating within
days. The expertise learned from the plant could be applied to
large-scale enrichment with the potential of producing material for
hundreds of warheads.

The timing of the planned visit also is important. It will occur only
about two weeks before ElBaradei is to report to the Security Council on
whether Iran has heeded its call to freeze uranium enrichment and fully
open its nuclear program to an IAEA probe.

Those requests were contained in a March 29 Security Council statement
that also called on ElBaradei to report back in 30 days on whether Iran
was complying.

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