<http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g9blUeSGZOoidYozU9XYmzfgntCg> UN nuclear chief walks out on EU speech on Iran: diplomats
17 hours ago
VIENNA (AFP) — UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei walked out on an afternoon session Tuesday of his IAEA to protest an EU speech which did not fully support his deal for new inspections in Iran, diplomats told AFP.
"He walked out because the EU did not support the Secretariat," a diplomat who was at the meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors said.
"The Europeans gave a nasty statement and the director general (ElBaradei) walked out of the room," a second diplomat said, demanding anonymity in return for revealing information about the closed-door session.
But a senior European diplomat said the EU supported ElBaradei and had only reiterated the IAEA chief's view that the timetable needs "Iran's full and active cooperation."
IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming declined comment but several diplomats confirmed that ElBaradei had walked out in protest.
ElBaradei has been under pressure as the United States and other Western countries warn that a timetable for new inspections in Iran agreed by the IAEA and Tehran last month gives the Islamic republic room to delay new UN sanctions.
They also warn that it gives Iran time to continue improving its work on enriching uranium, which makes power reactor fuel but also atom bomb material.
Still, the United States and ElBaradei had closed ranks on the first day here Monday of a regular meeting of the IAEA board in urging Iran to meet the timetable and also to do more to show the world it does not seek the bomb, such as suspending uranium enrichment.
At issue is how to win guarantees that Iran's nuclear work is peaceful, with US patience wearing thin as it presses for more UN sanctions but ElBaradei urging more inspections that could lead to talks on ending the crisis.
The European Union speech was given by Portuguese ambassador Joaquim Duarte, as Portugal is the current EU president.
Duarte hammered Iran for failing to suspend uranium enrichment "contrary to the decisions of the (UN) Security Council," referring to three UN Security Council resolutions and two rounds of UN sanctions.
He said that since ElBaradei's last report in May "Iran has further increased its enrichment capacities."
The speech only mentioned briefly the timetable the IAEA worked hard to get and did not give it the diplomatic backing ElBaradei expected.
The timetable, in a report ElBaradei submitted to the board on Monday, is to resolve outstanding questions in the agency's over four-year-old investigation of Iran on US charges that Tehran is using a civilian energy program to hide the development of nuclear weapons.
The speech focused on Iran's lack of cooperation, including its refusal to provide early design information on new nuclear facilities, and called repeatedly on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.
After walking out, ElBaradei stayed away until the session was adjourned at its regular time until Wednesday. The Portuguese speech was followed by speeches from Canada and Norway.
Just before the Portuguese speech, ElBaradei had receiving a rousing statement of support from the non-aligned movement, in a speech by Cuban ambassador Norma Miguelina Goicochea Estenoz as NAM leader.
She said "NAM shares the view that this work plan (timetable) is a 'significant step forward'" and "reiterates its full confidence in the impartiality and professionalism of the Secretariat of the IAEA and its Director General, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei."
A diplomat said ElBaradei had expected the same personal tone of appreciation in the EU speech and took the lack of it as a rebuff to his sustained diplomatic efforts.
Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari, meanwhile, told reporters at an OPEC meeting in Vienna that Iran's cooperation with the IAEA would have a "positive impact on energy markets."
Nozari said the "proactive cooperation" of Iran "is an essential step towards a peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue."
<http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39230> POLITICS: U.S. Denies Visas to Iranian Religious Leaders By Jonathan Bell
WASHINGTON, Sep 12 (IPS) - A religious delegation from Iran has cancelled a scheduled visit to the United States this week after members of the group were denied visas by the State Department.
The denial of the visa applications of four of the 14 delegation members was denounced by one of one of the trip's sponsors, who suggested Washington's move was consistent with a policy of confrontation, rather than engagement, with Iran.
"We are disappointed and troubled that the administration denied the visas...particularly because we received assurances from the State Department that [it] would move heaven and earth to make this reciprocal religious leaders' visit possible," said Joe Volk, executive secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker group.
"The denials parallel a disturbing escalation of rhetoric against Iran and further demonstrate this administration's current strategy of confrontation rather than diplomacy. Again, this administration appears to be choosing the war path rather than the negotiating table," he added.
A State Department official confirmed that the visas have not been approved.
The decision means that the Iranians will be unable to reciprocate a visit last February of a diverse group of U.S. Christian leaders, representing Union Methodist, Episcopal, Baptist, Catholic, Evangelical, Quaker, and Mennonite traditions.
While in Iran, they met with a range of religious, cultural, and political figures, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who reportedly told them that he was open to unconditional talks with the U.S. government "if we see some goodwill." The group was the first from the United States to hold a face-to-face meeting with an Iranian president since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
"The Iranian government has already built a bridge toward the American people by inviting our delegation to come to Iran," said the U.S. delegation upon its return. It urged the administration of President George W. Bush to "welcome a similar delegation" in order to help bring "a new day in U.S.-Iranian relations".
But despite two rounds of bilateral talks about stabilising Iraq between U.S. and Iranian envoys since then, tensions between the two countries have risen steadily, most recently amid Washington's charges that Tehran is supplying deadly Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs) and other weapons to Shia militias that have been attacking U.S. forces in Iraq.
A number of senior politicians have called for U.S. forces to carry out cross-border raids into Iran to prevent the alleged smuggling of weapons and personnel into Iraq, and Bush himself recently hinted that he is prepared to authorise such attacks.
In addition, Tehran's refusal to date to bow to U.S. and western demands that it freeze its nuclear-enrichment programme has strengthened hawks in the Bush administration and Congress, which itself is poised to approve a number of tough measures that would impose new economic sanctions on Iran and on foreign companies who do business with it.
Indeed, the administration is reportedly considering listing Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, a move that a number of Iran experts here warn would likely further diminish prospects for any bilateral engagement on Iraq or any other issue.
"It is extremely disconcerting that they were denied visas," said Carol Ong, Iran policy analyst for the Centre for Arms Control and Nonproliferation. "[It is] more than a missed opportunity, particularly when there is so much mistrust between the countries. By making this sort of gesture, we facilitate more mistrust to do with future exchanges."
What is particularly remarkable about the visa denials is that the administration has spoken out frequently in favour of "people-to-people" exchanges as a means of encouraging change in Iran and other allegedly hostile nations.
"The fact that the U.S. government has pulled the plug by denying these visas proves to us that the prospect that Americans and Iranians of various faiths shaking hands and talking together and determining their common interests was simply not the image the Bush administration wanted to portray of the Iranians," said Mary Ellen McNish, general secretary of the American Friends Service Committee.
Even some hawkish neo-conservatives have argued that such contacts helped weaken the Communist hold over Central and Eastern Europe in the 1970's and 1980s, setting the stage for the Soviet collapse. They have made no secret of their hope that a similar "regime change" strategy could apply in Iran.
Last year, the State Department approved the visit of former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, although its action came under strong attack by right-wing and Iranian exile forces here.
The State Department declined to comment on why the four members of the delegation were not approved for a visa, insisting that visa matters were confidential. Two of the four proscribed members of the Iranian delegation, however, reportedly were members of the IRGC during the 1980s, although this could not be independently confirmed.
(END/2007) -- Yoshie