VIENNA (AFP) – The United States led three allies Friday in warning the UN atomic chief against making comments that could harm the international drive against Iran’s contested nuclear programme, diplomats said.
The US, British, Japanese and French ambassadors to the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency met with IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei at his headquarters in Vienna for what one diplomat said was "quite a long meeting."
They were protesting ElBaradei’s statements in recent newspaper interviews that Iran should be allowed to enrich some uranium, the process which makes civilian reactor fuel but can also produce atom bomb material.
A second diplomat described the meeting as "cordial," adding, "We all agreed on the importance of Iran fully cooperating with the IAEA and complying with their international obligations."
IAEA officials refused to comment.
A notable absence was Germany, an EU negotiator on Iran along with Britain and France, which is open to a less hardline approach despite officially following the US line, according to diplomats.
The United States demands strict interpretation of UN Security Council resolutions adopted in December 2006 and March 2007 that have imposed sanctions on Iran to get it to suspend "all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development."
A third diplomat, speaking as others on condition of anonymity, said: "It’s fair to expect a senior UN official to support UN Security Council resolutions."
But another envoy said ElBaradei wanted to be forthright about what he thinks is needed to settle the crisis over fears Iran seeks nuclear weapons.
The diplomat said ElBaradei "feels very strongly about principles and about speaking his conscience, and he has been talking at all levels for the longest time" about the need to be realistic about Iran’s nuclear-fuel production capabilities.
Another diplomat said the situation was similar to the run-up to the Iraq war, when ElBaradei said he needed more time to verify if Baghdad had weapons of mass destruction but was ignored as the United States attacked anyway.
"It’s like Iraq all over again. As their policy becomes more unsustainable and unrealistic, they lash out at the watchdog rather than bringing their policy to conform with reality," the diplomat said.
ElBaradei said Wednesday as a UN deadline fell for Iran to suspend enrichment that Tehran was defying the demand and actually expanding this work, in a report to the Security Council that could open the door to new sanctions.
ElBaradei had told The New York Times on May 15 that "one of the purposes of suspension — keeping them from getting the knowledge — has been overtaken by events" as the Iranians have moved so far ahead with the process.
He said: "The focus should be to stop them from going to industrial scale production," rather than expecting them to stop all enrichment.
The four ambassadors’ visit Friday followed a protest from US ambassador Gregory Schulte on Wednesday to ElBaradei.
US State Department spokesman Tom Casey had Thursday said a message was going to be delivered to ElBaradei that "we and the rest of the international community remain strongly united around our approach and … we want to have his continued support."
Though France added its voice to the US-led protests, foreign ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau said Paris was not seeking ElBaradei’s resignation.
France’s reservations did not mean "that we question the work which is being done by the IAEA", he added.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted Friday that "Iran’s nuclear technology is being developed each day and will reach the farthest possible limit," in a speech reported by state news agency IRNA.
