The United Nations nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation board of governors on Thursday indefinitely shelved Iran’s bid for technical aid for a reactor project due to fears it could yield bomb-grade plutonium, diplomats said.
But the ruling, which the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) board adopted by consensus after days of wrangling between industrialised and developing nations, left open the possibility of revisiting Iran’s request in the future.
In a compromise hammered out in negotiations ahead of the board meeting, Iranian requests for IAEA technical assistance on seven other nuclear-energy projects judged not to pose a risk of being diverted to bomb-making were approved by the governors.
Tehran says its nuclear-energy agenda, anchored on enrichment of uranium, is limited to generating electricity or radio-isotopes for medical ends.
The United States, Europe and other allies suspect the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme is a cover for building bombs to imperil Israel and Western interests in the Middle East, and are seeking UN sanctions against Tehran.
Western states on the IAEA board originally preferred to have Iran’s case for safety expertise in building its Arak reactor, due for completion in 2009, rejected outright.
But to obtain consensus prized in the IAEA’s global culture, Western delegates bowed to developing nations’ insistence on a ”deferral”, rather than rejection, of the Arak issue.
The Non-Aligned Movement of developing states, to which Iran belongs, feared that rejection would set a ”politicised” precedent calling into question their chances of receiving aid for atomic power programmes they are pursuing.
Funds for technical aid channelled via the IAEA come from industrialised states. IAEA board approval of such aid had been routine for many years until the Arak item raised a political storm in the past week. — Reuters