The board of directors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), UN's nuclear watchdog, passed a resolution on Friday censuring Iran for building a secret uranium-enrichment facility near the city of Qom and carrying on with its disputed uranium-enrichment program despite mounting international concerns.
The 34-nation board passed the resolution in a 25-3 vote, with six members abstaining from voting. Notably, the resolution was supported by China and Russia, symbolizing the increasing international concerns over Iran's disputed nuclear program. Previously, the two countries had resisted earlier efforts by the western nations to take serious actions against Iran over its refusal to halt nuclear development program.
Though Iran says its nuclear program is intended for peaceful civilian power generation purposes only, the West believes it a cover-up for the Islamic country's nuclear weapon ambitions. Iran has already survived three sets of sanctions imposed on it by the UN Security Council following its refusal to halt its nuclear development work.
Soon after the adoption of the resolution, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, denounced the IAEA move, calling it intimidation. Stressing that the resolution was a "hasty and undue" step that would undermine future negotiations on the UN-proposal, Soltanieh said the IAEA should use "the language of logic rather than force."
"The great nation of Iran will never bow to pressure and intimidation vis-a-vis its inalienable right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy," he added.
However, Israel welcomed the move, saying that it comes when Iran's nuclear program was "becoming a significant and urgent threat to world peace". Israel also urged the international community "to make sure that this resolution has practical meaning by setting a binding timetable for its implementation and heavy sanctions on Iran should it defy it."
Israel, the only nuclear power in the region, has consistently expressed concerns over Iran's nuclear program and has refused to rule out the possibility of taking military action against Iran's nuclear sites. Also, Israel's concerns over Iran's nuclear program have been exacerbated by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's frequent outbursts against the Jewish nation.
Ahmadinejad, who has frequently denied the occurrence of the Holocaust, is well known for his outbursts against Israel and the west in the past, and his comments in 2005 that Israel was "doomed to be wiped off the map" triggered international outrage.
Separately, U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, Glyn Davies, welcomed the resolution, saying that it showed that the international community's "patience is running out" over Iran's delaying tactics regarding its nuclear program.
Russia's Foreign Ministry urged Iran to react "with full seriousness" to the resolution, while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the IAEA move signals the international community's willingness to enforce sanctions on Iran if it fails to respond positively to the UN nuclear proposal.
The latest IAEA resolution, the first against Iran in nearly four years, comes after Iran failed to respond positively to a UN-proposed deal for easing international concerns over Teheran's nuclear program.
Earlier, IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei presented the proposal after three days of intense negotiations at an IAEA-hosted meeting in Vienna in early October. The Vienna negotiations involved diplomats from the U.S., France, Russia and Iran. Except for Iran, all the other nations involved in the negotiations have accepted the proposed plan.
The IAEA-proposed plan envisaged shipping low-enriched Iranian uranium to Russia for further enrichment and then to France for conversion into actual fuel for Teheran's medical-purpose reactor that makes isotopes.
An agreement to process low-enriched Iranian uranium in a third country is widely seen as an amicable solution to the issue, as it would give Iran the nuclear fuel it requires to run its research reactor while guaranteeing the West that Tehran will not have enough nuclear material to convert into finer-grade uranium required for making nuclear weapons.
The Vienna negotiations essentially sought to advance the agreements reached at a previous round of negotiations between Iranian officials and representatives of Great Britain, China, Russia, the U.S., France and Germany in Geneva in early October.
Iran had agreed at the Geneva talks to allow officials from the IAEA to visit and inspect its recently revealed second uranium-enrichment facility. It also agreed in principle to transport some of the low-enriched uranium produced in Iran to a third country for further enrichment and transformation into fuel for use in the Tehran research reactor.
As a part of the agreement reached in Geneva, Tehran allowed IAEA inspectors to visit Iran's recently disclosed Fordo nuclear plant near the city of Qom, but it has yet to respond positively to the second part of the agreement.
Iran has rejected part of the deal that requires it to ship out its low-enriched uranium to foreign countries for further enrichment, but it indicated that it would instead consider exchanging uranium for nuclear fuel if carried out inside the country.
Tehran has said that it is not opposed to sending its low-enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment as per a UN-proposed deal but demanded guarantees that it would receive 20% enriched uranium in exchange for the 3.5% enriched uranium it ships abroad.
Following the Iranian demand, U.S. President Barack Obama warned that the United States and its allies have begun negotiations aimed at imposing fresh sanctions on Iran over its refusal to send its low-enriched uranium out of the country before the fuel it was to receive for the Tehran Research Reactor arrived on its soil. Obama also indicated that he would assess the Iranian position by the end of the year.
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