Region | Iran
IAEA report 'does not prove Iran building N-weapon'
The confidential International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report is inconclusive and not proof that Iran is building a nuclear weapon, though there are concerns over an increase in uranium enrichment, according to leading British think-tanks.
- By Tom Clifford Assistant Editor, International
- Published: 00:00 November 16, 2006
- Image Credit: Reuters
- The IAEA report on Tuesday indicated that uranium enrichment levels seemed to be under five per cent nowhere near the 90 per cent needed for nuclear weapons production.
Dubai: The confidential International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report is inconclusive and not proof that Iran is building a nuclear weapon, though there are concerns over an increase in uranium enrichment, according to leading British think-tanks.
"The fact remains that Iran is doing nothing illegal under its Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations," Frank Barnaby, a nuclear issues consultant for the Oxford Research Group told Gulf News.
"Under article four of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty it is entitled to develop peaceful nuclear energy, actually other signatories are meant to be helping it. This is a lot of fuss about very little. We cannot say if Iran is building a nuclear weapon, which even if it was, would still be years away."
The IAEA report on Tuesday indicated that uranium enrichment levels seemed to be under five per cent nowhere near the 90 per cent needed for nuclear weapons production.
"It is still plausible that Iran's nuclear programme is peaceful," Mark Fitzpatrick of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies told Gulf News. "But their plausibility is diminished by lack of cooperation with the IAEA. Also there has been a six-fold increase since the summer of uranium enrichment."
What we are witnessing now "is more or less what would happen with a peaceful programme" but there are three areas of concern for the international community, according to Paul Rogers, a peace studies professor at Britain's Bradford University.
"Iran's refusal to be entirely forthcoming with the IAEA leads to increased US suspicions of ulterior motives", Rogers told Gulf News. "On top of this we have an increasing pace of developments by Tehran which means that Iran will enhance its ability to take the nuclear weapons route quicker, should it choose to do. Thirdly there's a bit of an 'in your face' attitude from Tehran just now, probably reflecting [US President George W] Bush's recent electoral setbacks."
The IAEA board in February referred Iran to the UN Security Council, suggesting it had breached the NPT and might be trying to make nuclear weapons.
This centred on what the IAEA refers to in its report as the Additional Protocol. This is where Iran volunteered to allow snap nuclear inspections, above and beyond what it was obliged to offer, but then withdrew the offer in January.
News Editor's choice
-
Ukraine leaders fight over Russian language
Violence erupts in Ukraine parliament over a bill to allow use of Russian language in courts, hospitals
-
CBSE: 100% success in many UAE schools
6,000 students from 53 schools meet grade expectations in examinations
-
'I can’t believe he is not going to come back'
Seventeen-year-old boy went missing in Dubai during a visit from Pakistan
