EU backs down on Iran
HONOR MAHONY
23.09.2005 @ 10:41 CET
The EU has been forced to back away from its tough stance on Iran after it failed to get Russia's support for reporting Iran's nuclear ambitions to the UN Security Council.
After a series of negotiations at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, the EU, represented by France, Germany and the UK, decided to withdraw a draft resolution that called for Iran to be reported to the security council for breaching the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
France, the UK and Germany are carrying out the negotiations on behalf of the EU (Photo: EUobserver.com)
According to the Guardian, the resolution said there was an "international absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes".
While the EU's position, strongly backed by the US, had reportedly gathered just enough support to pushed through the governing council of the IAEA, it was feared that Russia and China would then block the initiative in the Security Council.
Pushing for the Security Council route without consensus in the IAEA would also have sent a damaging message about international views towards nuclear proliferation.
Both Moscow and Beijing believe that bringing the issue to the UN in New York would only escalate the crisis.
The Financial Time writes that Russia objected to the draft's wording that Iran was in "non-compliance" with the IAEA's rules and to the assertion that the issue was now "within the competence of the Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security".
Iran welcomed the news of the EU's climbdown on Thursday. "The EU's withdrawal was a significant victory for Iran," Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, said according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, IAEA chief Mohamed El Baradei also welcomed the EU's move, saying "Whatever brings both sides back on the negotiating table, is a good thing".
The EU and Tehran have been negotiating this issue for two years – with the EU for a long time resisting pressure from Washington to take a tougher stance.
Last November Iran agreed with the EU three to a "suspension to include all enrichment related and reprocessing activities" which included "all tests or production at any uranium conversion installation".
Uranium conversion produces a gas that is used in the process of enriching uranium into a fuel that can either be used for civilian nuclear power plants or for producing atom bombs.
For its part, Iran maintains that it is using its nuclear facilities only for civil purposes.
