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by Staff Writers Vienna (AFP) Sept 16, 2010
UN atomic watchdog chief Yukiya Amano and Iran's nuclear envoy waged a fierce war of words here Wednesday in a deepening dispute over Tehran's decision to bar key nuclear inspectors from the country. At a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member board of governors here, the Islamic republic's ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh accused Amano of bias and kow-towing to western powers in the watchdog's long-running investigation into Iran's contested nuclear programme. Amano has complained that a recent decision by Tehran to revoke the permits of two experienced IAEA inspectors after they allegedly made "false" reports to the agency was "hampering" the watchdog's work. But Soltanieh rubbished such suggestions as he recounted to reporters the exchange between him and Amano during the closed-door session of the board. "It is meaningless to say that if you delete two of the inspectors, everything will collapse or it will be hampered. That is umbelievable," Soltanieh said. "This turning a technical matter into a political matter," the envoy said. Soltanieh complained that Amano had stood by the inspectors and refused to publicly acknowledge they had made any mistakes. Furthermore, Amano had gone public about the whole affair by mentioning it in his latest Iran report. According to Soltanieh, he and the IAEA chief reached a "gentlemen's agreement" to settle the matter without any further ado if Tehran approved two replacement inspectors suggested by the agency. "They told me in a meeting, it was a gentlemen's agremeent -- which is why I am very disappointed -- that if you agree to these two, the issue will be closed and not need to be discussed any more. "But they didn't keep their words. They reported in the report of the director general and they made a fuss about this. They made a noise. Now this has become a political issue. This is not fair," Soltanieh said. Tehran's decision to bar the inspectors has dominated the IAEA board meeting, which began on Monday and is expected to wrap up on Thursday. Western countries, including France, Britain, Germany and the United States, said Iran was "clearly trying to intimidate" the agency and "influence its ability to report to the board and undermine its ability to effectively implement the safeguards regime in its territory." Responding to Soltanieh's accusations during the closed-door session, Amano countered that "this is not about numbers of inspectors; this is about the country-specific experience of inspectors." When such experienced inspectors were "de-designated, this can disrupt the smooth running of the entire team of inspectors dedicated to Iran," the Japanese diplomat argued in comments relayed to AFP. "While Iran is entitled to object to the designation of inspectors, this is not without limits," he said. Under the terms of Iran's safeguards agreement with the IAEA, the repeated refusal by a state to accept the designation of agency inspectors could impede inspections and therefore be referred to the board for "appropriate action" to be taken. "That is why I am raising this issue now: to avoid a situation whereby Iran's repeated refusal to accept inspector designations does 'impede' our inspections," Amano said. "The solution is clear: I request Iran not to de-designate any more inspectors with experience of conducting inspections in Iran," Amano said. And he insisted: "I am not under any pressure from any country ... I need to say that."
earlier related report And the United States suggested the 35-member board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should consider taking "appropriate action" against Iran over the matter. The Islamic republic's decision in June to revoke the permits of two experienced IAEA inspectors after they allegedly made "false" reports to the agency about Iran's nuclear programme has dominated the board meeting being held this week in the watchdog's Vienna headquarters. IAEA chief Yukiya Amano complained the move was "hampering" the agency's long-running investigation, now entering its eighth year, into Tehran's contested nuclear drive. Addressing the closed-door assembly on behalf of Britain, France and Germany, French ambassador Florence Mangin said: "The Iranian authorities are clearly trying to intimidate the agency so as to influence its ability to report to the board and undermine its ability to effectively implement the safeguards regime in its territory." Washington's envoy Glyn Davies agreed. It was "unprecedented for a state to reject inspectors because they report accurately ... what they see and what they hear," Davies said. "To that end, the United States fully supports the IAEA's denunciation of Iran's treatment of certain inspectors, which we consider a clear effort to intimidate inspectors and thereby influence the conclusions of inspectors in Iran." The US ambassador suggested the board "should consider 'appropriate action'" against Iran because the de-designation of inspectors was "synonymous" with a paragraph in the safeguards agreement that outlawed any attempts by a state to "impede" the IAEA's work. So far, IAEA chief Amano has carefully avoided using the word "impeding", saying only that Tehran's decision to bar experienced inspectors was "hampering" the agency's work. Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh nevertheless rejected any such suggestion. "They're trying to make an issue out of this," Soltanieh told reporters. It was Iran's right, under the terms of its safeguards agreement with IAEA, to vet inspectors, he insisted. Furthermore member states were not obliged to provide a reason for such a decision. It was "ridculous" for the agency to complain about the decision to bar just two inspectors when there was a pool of "over 150 inspectors" to draw from, Soltanieh said. He denied that the decision to bar the inspectors was in any way a retaliatory move. "Iran has accepted over 150 inspectors as designated inspectors and usually around 10 of them do inspections in Iran. Therefore, the secretariat could easily use any of the others in the long list," Soltanieh argued. French ambassador Mangin described Amano's latest Iran report -- circulated to board members last week -- as "alarming". It found that the Islamic republic was pressing ahead with its uranium enrichment despite four rounds of UN sanctions, and refusing to answer questions about possible military dimensions to its nuclear programme. "Iran's refusal to fully cooperate with the IAEA and its deliberate attempts to prevent it from carrying out its mandate in Iranian territory are ... troubling and reprehensible," Mangin said. "The only conclusion we can draw is that Iran remains determined to pursue a nuclear programme which could provide it with military capabilities," she said, urging Iran to address seriously the concerns of the international community about its nuclear activities. US ambassador Davies said: "The lengthening list of Iran's violations of its obligations under its safeguards agreements and UN Security Council resolutions, together with Iran's overall refusal to address international concerns ... undermines Iran's frequent claim that there is nothing left to be worried about with Iran's nuclear programme."
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