IRAN: Iran will receive another scolding today when the UN nuclear watchdog agency meets in Vienna to discuss the country's secretive nuclear programme.
Top of the agenda at the meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be the latest findings of UN inspectors in Iran. Last month the IAEA issued a damning report that found Iran had hidden aspects of its nuclear programme, despite repeated reassurances from Tehran that it was telling the truth.
The report said Iran had failed to mention research on a sophisticated "P2" centrifuge, which is capable of producing weapons-grade uranium. Iran also withheld information on experiments with plutonium and polonium, a substance that can be used to detonate a nuclear fission bomb.
The omissions have prompted yet more international scepticism over Iran's nuclear intentions. To reassure the IAEA before today's meeting, Tehran moved quickly in the past month to provide fresh assurances that its programme was purely peaceful.
In negotiations with Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to suspend the construction of new centrifuges, which can be used to produce high-grade uranium for atomic bombs. Although Iran had previously pledged to suspend uranium enrichment efforts, it had refused to stop manufacturing components for centrifuges.
With its latest commitment, Iran will escape both harsh criticism from the IAEA and a possible referral to the UN Security Council. The United States is angry at the three European governments for brokering a deal with Iran but appears to be biding its time in the belief Tehran has promised more than it can deliver. In return for its promises of transparency, Iran is hoping the IAEA will dim the spotlight on its nuclear project.
"Iran's dossier has to be completely taken out of the IAEA board of governors' agenda," Tehran's top nuclear negotiator, Mr Hasan Rowhani, said yesterday.
Last October, Tehran issued what it termed as a full and honest disclosure of its nuclear activities, saying uranium enrichment and a heavy water reactor were designed for civilian energy. Arms control experts say such activities are more suited to the production of nuclear weapons than generating electricity.
Some diplomats in Tehran suspect that Iran is secretly trying to produce nuclear weapons and has not abandoned its plans to build a nuclear bomb.
"This has just been a tactical exercise. They haven't given up their long-term goal," a diplomat told The Irish Times.
The IAEA will also discuss Libya's previously undeclared nuclear programme which is currently being dismantled under US supervision. Washington is highlighting Libya as a positive example that Iran should emulate if it wants to end international suspicions.
"They want to show Iran that this is how to handle the issue. The Iranians are being told that if you're good boys, this is what happens," said the diplomat.
Libya's disclosure that it had bought nuclear technology and assistance from Pakistani sources has raised fresh concerns about what Iran may have procured from a black market network linked to Abdul Qadeer Khan, who has confessed to transferring nuclear technology to Iran and Libya.
Reuters adds: Conservative and reformist legislators scuffled in Iran's parliament yesterday after a reformist lawmaker called on a panel of clerics to examine the performance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The brief bout of pushing and shouting involving around a dozen deputies reflected simmering political tension following parliamentary elections last month which reformists allege were rigged in advance to ensure a conservative victory.
Conservative candidates secured a comfortable majority at the polls, reversing a reformist win in 2000 elections, after more than 2,000 mainly reformist aspirants were barred from standing for election by a watchdog run by religious hardliners.