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U.S., Iran argue over nuke report
(CNN) -- Iran's nuclear program failed to report some of its sophisticated facilities to international monitors as required by an international treaty, a report by the United Nations nuclear monitoring agency concludes. The United States has welcomed the International Atomic Energy Agency report and called on Tehran to prove its nuclear plans are peaceful and not for the building of nuclear weapons. But the Iranian government pointed to other sections of the IAEA document as vindicating its nuclear program. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei's report said Iran had not met its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty because it failed to tell the IAEA about some sophisticated facilities. ElBaradei toured Iran's nuclear bases in February, including the facility designed to enrich uranium being built near Natanz, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) south of Tehran. Shortly after the visit, Time magazine, citing unnamed diplomatic sources, reported U.N. weapons inspectors discovered that Iran's uranium-enrichment facility was "extremely advanced," to the point that it violates the nonproliferation treaty. (Full story) The 35-nation IAEA board, based in Vienna, Austria, spent two days this week discussing Iran's nuclear program and whether it was designed to build power stations or weapons. "The board has full support for the IAEA's ongoing inspection efforts in Iran," said agency spokesman Mark Gwozdecky on Thursday. "They shared our concern with the failures and called on Iran to rectify the situation. They called on Iran to grant all the cooperation we need to finish our work, including allowing our inspectors to do environmental sampling" at the enrichment site. But Iran's Atomic Energy Organization chief, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, said: "The statement shows that the IAEA is happy with the cooperation it has been getting from Iran and vindicates Iran's position that its nuclear program is aimed at peaceful uses." He also said the report showed that the United States was unsuccessful in its attempt to get the IAEA's board of governors to declare Iran in violation of its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations by pursuing a nuclear weapons program. The Bush administration said the IAEA findings would help generate international pressure on Iran to take further steps, although privately U.S. officials had hoped the IAEA would demand unconditional access to Iran's nuclear facilities. "The IAEA board expresses its concerns about Iran's failure to report nuclear activities," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told CNN in a telephone interview. "The board calls on Iran to cooperate fully and specifically asks Iran to permit the IAEA to take environmental samples and to be more transparent and to allow inspections and to sign an additional protocol. "This is strong. This is a welcome report, and it is important now for Iran to show and prove its peaceful intentions." Washington believes Iran is developing a nuclear arms capability and rejects Tehran's insistence that it is developing nuclear facilities to provide electricity. In his 2002 State of the Union address, U.S. President George W. Bush included Iran as part of what he called an "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea. Iran vindicated, nuclear chief saysDespite IAEA's criticisms, it also noted improved cooperation between Iran and the agency since March and urged that cooperation to continue. The IAEA board asked Iran to keep nuclear material out of the Natanz plant "as a confidence-building measure" and "to promptly and unconditionally" adopt the agency's strict monitoring and inspection protocol. Gwozdecky said Iran "reaffirmed their commitment to full cooperation, full transparency" during the board's deliberations. Bush has pushed for a harder line on Iran and Wednesday said Iran would be "dangerous" with nuclear weapons. "The international community must come together to make it very clear to Iran that we will not tolerate construction of a nuclear weapon," he said. But facing the IAEA's preference for consensus on such issues, the administration opted to put the best face on the report. "This is an important report from the international community, and the president welcomes it," Fleischer said. "This is a strong report and a helpful action, and the president welcomes it." Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has said Iran will sign the IAEA's additional protocol -- which would allow the agency unfettered access to facilities with little notice -- only when the international community keeps to its obligations under the nonproliferation treaty and transfers nuclear know-how for peaceful purposes. "We reserve the right to pursue nuclear know-how," Khatami told journalists Wednesday. Although Iran is a signatory of the nonproliferation treaty, many Iranians back a robust nuclear policy, even a nuclear weapons program. They say they do not see why Iran should not be a nuclear power when Pakistan, India and other world powers have nuclear weapons. Israel is also widely believed to have nuclear weapons but has never admitted it. More than 150 members of the Iranian parliament have signed a statement backing the government's nuclear policies and have urged it not to give into international pressure. CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King and Correspondent Kasra Naji contributed to this report.
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