Brussels, 25/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - Meeting on 24 November in Vienna, the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) preferred to study a proposal for the relocation of Iranian uranium enrichment activities to Russia rather than referring the nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council. Having “acceded to the requests of several members of the board” who, according to comments by British Ambassador in Vienna Peter Jenkins reported by AFP, “hoped for more time for diplomatic dialogue on the future of the Iranian programme”, the EU-3 (Germany, France and the United Kingdom) supported the option of Russian mediation and sought to calm tension over the Iranian nuclear dossier. Mr Jenkins did not however fail to criticise Teheran by expressing doubts as to the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear programme over the past 18 years and by referring to a document handed over by the Iranian authorities to IAEA inspectors, pointing out that Iran has, thanks to a clandestine Pakistani network, information on a “process which does not have applications other than the production of nuclear weapons”.
The draft EU-3 text supporting the option of Russian mediation and submitted to the governing board mainly notes that there is broad consensus for not authorising Iran, in current circumstances, to conduct activities linked to enrichment on its own territory. Russian mediation, which aims to relaunch negotiations that have been deadlocked since rejection of the European proposal and resumption of Iran's uranium conversion activities last August, suggests authorising Iran to convert uranium then to transfer it to Russia for enrichment (EUROPE 9066). For the time being, this option is still rejected by Teheran but the EU-3 and Russia have suggested the date of 6 December for resuming negotiations. If Iran is to ”seriously consider” the Russian proposal, then it “must not conclude that this window of opportunity will remain open whatever the circumstances”, Mr Jenkins said at the Vienna meeting before urging Teheran to abstain from any new unilateral decision likely to worsen the situation. The board of governors should not therefore vote on Friday on possible referral of the matter to the Security Council but should adopt a compromise text. Furthermore, although Washington supported the European proposal, the US Ambassador in Vienna, Gregory Schulte, warned that the IAEA's patience is not without its limits.