IAEA fears split if Iran sent to UNSC

Fearing that referring Iran to the UN Security Council would split its members, the UN nuclear watchdog would rather set a new deadline for ...

Fearing that referring Iran to the UN Security Council would split its members, the UN nuclear watchdog would rather set a new deadline for Iran to halt sensitive work, diplomats said.

‘‘It would be in everybody’s favour to give it some three or four weeks,’’ said a senior diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency, on condition of anonymity.

‘‘Everybody is looking for a solution that would avoid confrontation. This would give the time needed to arrive at a package,’’ the diplomat said, adding, ‘‘(A) quick decision now would create a deep division in the (IAEA) board.’’

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Other diplomats said IAEA head Muhammad ElBaradei had suggested to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the agency’s governing board could set a deadline for Iran to resume a suspension of sensitive atomic activities and help the UN resolve outstanding questions about Iran’s nuclear programme.

Iran, however, in a statement circulated to IAEA board members this week, has told the UN nuclear watchdog it will continue to cooperate with it, but only if it can exercise a right to enrich uranium.

‘‘There is no reason for Iran to sustain its…voluntary suspension of uranium conversion and enrichment,’’ it said.

However, ElBaradei’s former deputy and Chief IAEA inspector, Pierre Goldschmidt, wrote in an opinion piece for The New York Times that the IAEA board should not hesitate to report Iran for hiding its uranium enrichment programme for nearly two decades.

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‘‘A failure by the board to make such a report would considerably weaken the agency and the global non-proliferation regime. It would reveal that the world is unwilling to hold rule-breakers to account, inviting proliferation by other countries,’’ wrote Goldschmidt, who retired this summer. —Reuters