Director General of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei (left) talks to
U.S. Ambassador Glyn Davies prior to the IAEA meeting in
Vienna, Austria on Friday, November 27, 2009.
On Friday, the United Nations nuclear watchdog group, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) passed a resolution rebuking Iran for its secret nuclear program, and urged Iran to cease any additional work on its uranium enrichment facility near Qom.
In order to alleviate fears that Iran is building a nuclear weapons program, the IAEA had proposed that Iran ship its low grade uranium to Russia and France for further refinement and creation into fuel rods, but Iran has yet to agree. Earlier in the week, Iran did make a counter proposal for an upfront trade, and for the trade to take place in Iran. This, however, is seen by many to merely be a stall tactic, as the international community would be highly unlikely to agree to such a deal.
The resolution, which passed 25 to 3, with six abstentions, is expected to have more effect than those of the past. Whereas China and Russia have refused to support strong measures against Iran previously, now both counties appear to agree with the majority of the international community on this issue, at least for now.
The three countries which voted against the resolution were Cuba, Malaysia, and Venezuela. The countries with abstentions were Afghanistan, Brazil, Egypt, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey. Azerbaijan did not attend the meeting.
Concerning the message of the resolution, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs stated, “Our patience and that of the international community is limited, and time is running out. If Iran refuses to meet its obligations, then it will be responsible for its own growing isolation and the consequences.”
On Thursday, Director General Mohamed ElBaradei stated to the IAEA board, “There has been no movement on remaining issues of concern which need to be clarified for the agency to verify the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program. We have effectively reached a dead end, unless Iran engages fully with us.” ElBaradei’s position as head of the agency ends December 1.
Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh stated in response to the resolution, “The great nation of Iran will never bow to pressure and intimidation vis-a-vis its inalienable right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy.” He continued by saying, “We will not implement any word of it because this is a politically motivated gesture against the Iranian nation.”
The Iranian ambassador did say that they would allow inspections of the site for now, but that it was a voluntary measure, and that they claimed the right to stop the inspections at any time.
Copyright © 2009 by Raymond Gellner
Comments