U.N. Nuclear Chief Nudges Iran

Claiming that Iran has failed to report some nuclear activities, the head of the United Nations’ atomic energy watchdog on Monday called on Tehran to accept tougher international inspections of its plants and research facilities to ensure that it is not developing a nuclear weapon.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, issued his carefully worded admonition after introducing a report at a closed-door session of the agency’s 35-member board here that questioned Iran’s compliance with nuclear safeguards.

“The report points out that Iran has failed to report certain nuclear materials and activities, and that corrective actions are being taken in cooperation with the Iranian authorities,” ElBaradei said in remarks released by his office.

He also said Iran continues to refuse to allow inspectors to perform tests at a plant in Tehran suspected of secretly enriching uranium.

The international agency is under what its officials privately described as immense pressure from the United States to take firm action to halt what Washington contends is a clandestine nuclear-weapons program in Iran.

The board is expected to debate whether to take steps later this week. Diplomats and agency officials said they expect any action will stop short of finding Iran in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

“The key at this point is to keep the dialogue open,” said a Western diplomat attending the session who requested anonymity.

Richard Boucher, the chief U.S. State Department spokesman, urged the board members to “express their concerns about the nuclear program” and “sign and implement without any delay the additional protocols” demanding tougher inspections. Yet U.S. officials stopped short of pushing for the U.N. Security Council to take up the issue, as some privately have done in the past.

One expert in weapons proliferation said he was struck by the mildness of the board’s language, speculating that it may reflect the board’s belief that a gentle approach is the best way of winning Iran’s cooperation.

“I’m a little surprised at how cautious this assessment is,” said Joseph Cirincione of the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

For its part, Iran says that its nuclear projects are intended to generate electricity and that it has complied with its commitments under the nonproliferation treaty.

Iran’s chief delegate to the nuclear agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, told reporters in Vienna that his country might sign an additional agreement permitting tougher inspections of its nuclear facilities if the request was made in a “reasonable” manner. In exchange, Iran wants restrictions eased on its access to civilian nuclear technology.

The additional agreement, which has been adopted by 78 countries, permits international inspectors wider access and more intrusive checks of nuclear plants on short notice.

ElBaradei’s request to Iran coincided with a call from European Union foreign ministers urging Tehran to accept the additional inspections. The ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, said a trade pact between the EU and Iran could hinge on Tehran’s acceptance of the stricter safeguards.

(In a decision that did not mention Iran, the foreign ministers also said force might be justified in cases where diplomacy failed to resolve threats from nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.)

Pressure on Iran has been mounting amid rising international concerns that Tehran is pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

Tensions increased in late February when a team from the atomic energy agency, led by ElBaradei, discovered far more progress than it had anticipated in the construction of a large uranium processing plant in central Iran.

Inspectors found more than 100 completed centrifuges at the plant, and Iran said there eventually would be 50,000 centrifuges. The devices are integral to an elaborate process for developing nuclear fuel.

Concerns were heightened because a large portion of the plant at Natanz is being built 75 feet underground, where it could withstand an air attack with conventional weapons.

The plant is expected to be operational within two years. Iran says the facility will provide low-enriched fuel for six planned nuclear reactors. Critics warn that the plant could be reconfigured easily to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.

“Iran seems to be close to crossing a nuclear threshold, and the Natanz facility could be configured in a matter of weeks or months to produce enough highly enriched uranium for several nuclear weapons a year,” Gary Samore, a former Clinton administration nonproliferation official now with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said in a recent interview.

The Natanz plant and a heavy water production plant under construction at Arak were the two main facilities that raised concerns in ElBaradei’s confidential report to the agency’s board.

The report was leaked to the press this month.

Iran said the heavy water plant is part of its civilian nuclear research, but outside experts and agency officials expressed concern that its intended use is to develop plutonium for weapons.

The report also described a previously secret shipment of 1.8 tons of uranium to Iran in 1991 from an unidentified foreign country. Officials said privately that the uranium came from China.

While the amount of usable uranium available from the ore would be small, the report said that it was significant in terms of Iran’s ability to conduct nuclear research and development and that the shipment should have been declared to the watchdog agency.

In his remarks to the board, ElBaradei said constructive steps were underway with Iran and that there have been several inspections and meetings since late February.

However, he also said that as recently as last week, Iran had rejected the agency’s request to take environmental samples at the Kalaye Electric Co. in Tehran, where parts for the uranium-enriching centrifuges were developed.

The sophisticated sampling technique allows the agency to determine from minute traces of residue the degree of enrichment that uranium has undergone.

The enrichment level would help determine whether Iran is producing low-level uranium for civilian reactors or highly enriched uranium for weapons.

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Times staff writer Paul Richter in Washington contributed to this report.