Enriched Tehran

Iran's inclusion in the "axis of evil" is postponed

Yesterday in Vienna, on the second day of the meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the long-awaited presentation of the report of the head of the organization, Mohammed ElBaradei, on inspections of Iran's nuclear program took place. As expected, this event did not lead to extraordinary sensations. The text of the report was known to the Council members in advance. Its main content was the published facts of Tehran's violation of its obligations as a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Iran was “caught” for not notifying the IAEA in a timely manner about work at its nuclear facilities and about the acquisition of nuclear materials in third countries. This refers to the secret purchases of uranium ore from China in the early 90s. This violation is all the more obvious because China was not a member of the IAEA in those years.

However, the tone of Mr ElBaradei's speech seemed much more conciliatory than would have been expected just a month ago. Then official Washington predicted that the report of the head of the IAEA would be evidence of Iran's deployment of a military nuclear program. At the same time, the United States more than persistently called on Russia to curtail cooperation with Iran in the construction of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, arguing that Russian assistance in Tehran’s acquisition of the “peaceful atom” is used to create a military nuclear potential.

This pressure had some effect, although Moscow also had its own reasons for dissatisfaction with Tehran’s behavior. The Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy already several months ago suspended the supply of nuclear fuel to the Bushehr nuclear power plant, expecting Iran to provide guarantees for the return of spent fuel to Russia. Concerned about the delay in putting the nuclear power plant into operation, the Iranians replied that they would “even tomorrow” sign a protocol on the return of fuel - but this is hampered by Russian legislation, which does not allow such a possibility. Indeed, the problem of removal and disposal in Russia of fuel spent at foreign nuclear facilities has still not been resolved by the Russian parliament.

However, when Washington’s pressure on Moscow on the “Iran problem” reached its climax (in a series of Russian-American meetings at various levels, this topic was almost the most important, second only to Iraq), the Russian leadership decided to ask Tehran questions regarding its nuclear program directly. They looked deliberately not political, but only technical, and they were formulated by the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy.

The Kremlin decided to leave the political assessment of suspicions against Iran until the meeting of the IAEA Council in Vienna. This position, judging by the results of the Vienna discussions to date, has justified itself. In any case, none of the Council members have so far questioned the transparent and legitimate nature of Russian-Iranian cooperation in the peaceful development of nuclear energy.

Moreover, as ITAR-TASS reports, citing informed sources in the IAEA, the United States also seems to have decided to abandon the promised proposal to put its draft resolution on Iran up for discussion by Council members. This suggests that the main outcome of the discussions in Vienna will be only the so-called “chairman's statement” - a summary outlining the main points of view. This “statement” option is fundamentally different from the “resolution” option, since the latter represents a sharp form of reaction, which has so far been used by the IAEA only in connection with “flagrant” cases of violation of the NPT regime in Iraq and North Korea.

In addition, as the Vremya Novostei newspaper suggested yesterday, Iran in the last hours before the decisive discussion took steps towards the IAEA's demands to sign an additional protocol on inspections of its nuclear facilities. Moreover, even without the West fulfilling the “counter conditions” that Tehran insisted on a couple of days ago. It was about the Iranians' desire to bargain for guarantees of Western assistance in implementing their nuclear program.

So today, on the day to which the decisive discussion of the “Iranian dossier” is postponed for the second time, starting from Monday, what is already known will finally become clear - the addition of Tehran to the “black list” of pariah states is, at worst, postponed . And at best, it won’t happen at all.

This will be a real big gift to the Iranian leadership, which is trying to resist the barrage of mass protests within its own country. And the head of the IAEA, Mr. AlBaradei, having avoided harmful emotions, received a gift yesterday - it was his birthday.

Arkady DUBNOV