WarSclerotic

IAEA chief: Iran nuke probe at ‘dead end,’ Tehran not cooperating – Haaretz – Israel News.

Head of UN watchdog criticizes Iran for trying to change plan endorsed by six world powers.

VIENNA – The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday that his probe into allegations Iran tried to make nuclear arms has reached a dead end because Tehran is not cooperating. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei was also critical of Iran for trying to change a plan endorsed by six world powers – the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – that would stymie Tehran’s ability to make nuclear weapons. The proposal calls for Iran to ship out most of its enriched uranium and have it returned as nuclear fuel. ElBaradei was speaking at the start of the a meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors, who will likely vote on a resolution demanding that Iran immediately mothball the uranium enrichment site it kept secret for years. Diplomats forecast majority approval for the resolution in a vote Thursday or Friday, in what would be its first action against Iran in almost four years. The move reflects dismay over Iran’s September disclosure of a second enrichment site it had been building clandestinely for two years, and frustration at Iran’s holdup of the IAEA-brokered plan to give it fuel for its nuclear medical program if it parts with enriched uranium that could be used in weapons. The last IAEA board resolution passed against Iran was in February 2006, when governors referred Tehran’s case to the UN Security Council over its refusal to suspend enrichment and open up completely to IAEA inspections and investigations. The new measure’s sponsors were the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, the sextet locked in a long standoff with Iran over its shadowy enrichment activity, alleged nuclear bomb research and restrictions on IAEA inspections. Russian and Chinese support was significant, and expected to secure rare developing nation votes against Iran, since the two have often blocked a tough united front against Iran in global security bodies and avoided direct criticism of Tehran. Vienna diplomats said China was won over at the last minute by strong Western lobbying. It was not clear how. The Washington Post reported on Wednesday U.S. officials had persuaded Beijing that big power unity to rein in Iran was now indispensable because Israel saw Iran’s nuclear drive as an “existential” threat that could lead to a Middle East war, stopping Iranian oil exports crucial to China’s booming economy. But it was unclear whether Moscow and Beijing’s expression of disenchantment with Iran, an important trade partner for both, would translate into readiness for harsher UN sanctions Western powers will push for if the fuel deal falls through.

via Report: US warned China that Israel could attack Iran – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Washington Post reports American warning caused Beijing to reconsider its stance on Iranian nuclear program, may lead to agreement on tougher sanctions against Islamic republic

Yitzhak Benhorin

Published: 11.26.09, 07:31 / Israel News

WASHINGTON – An American warning that Israel could bomb Iran is what caused China to reconsider its stance over the Iranian nuclear program and may have paved the way for new sanctions against the Islamic republic, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

The Americans have been trying for some time to get China to join the camp of countries supporting tougher sanctions against Iran. According to the report, two weeks before US President Barack Obama visited China a week and a half ago, two senior White House officials – Dennis Ross and Jeffrey Bader – traveled to Beijing on a “special mission” to try to persuade China to pressure Iran to give up its alleged nuclear weapons program.

The Chinese were told that Israel regards Iran’s nuclear program as an “existential issue and that countries that have an existential issue don’t listen to other countries.” According to the Washington Post, the message was clear: Israel could bomb Iran, leading to a crisis in the Persian Gulf region and almost inevitably problems over the very oil China needs to fuel its economic juggernaut.The Chinese response was given to the White House earlier this week. Beijing informed Washington that it would support a toughly worded, US-backed statement criticizing the Islamic republic for flouting UN resolutions by constructing a secret uranium-enrichment plant.

While largely symbolic, the Washington Post said, it is the first such declaration since 2006 to be backed by both China and Russia. And the statement marks a departure for China, which has long refrained from criticizing Iran’s nuclear policies.

Obama presented the Iranian nuclear issue to the Chinese as extremely severe. The issue of how China will handle the Iranian nuclear issue has emerged as an early test of what Obama has described as a relationship that “will shape the 21st century.”

Given its backing even from Iran’s erstwhile allies, European diplomats on Wednesday predicted easy passage of the resolution, which calls Tehran’s construction of an underground enrichment plant near Qom a “breach of its obligations” under UN and IAEA guidelines. If approved, the Washington Post said, the resolution will be referred to the UN Security Council, which could decide to enact harsher sanctions against the Islamic republic.It is still unclear whether Russia or China would go further and agree to new sanctions against Iran. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has already hinted that his country would agree to sanctions. American sources clarified several days ago that China would likely not veto a Security Council resolution against Iran.