Iran warns nuke deadline could backfire

The International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors voted Friday to approve a US-backed resolution imposing the deadline on Tehran to clear up questions about its nuclear program.

Chief Iranian delegate Ali Akbar Salehi then walked out in protest. Iranian officials had repeatedly warned that imposing a deadline and insisting on other tough language in the resolution would aggravate nuclear tensions.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

"We will have no choice but to have a deep review of our existing level and extent of engagement with the agency," Salehi said, suggesting that Tehran might reduce or even break off links - moves that would doom inspection attempts.

Diplomats fear Iran might follow the lead of North Korea, which renounced the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in November and shut the outside world out of its secretive nuclear program.

If the next board meeting in November determines that Iran has not complied with the treaty banning the spread of nuclear arms, the noncompliance must reported to the UN Security Council, where reaction could range from formal criticism to economic sanctions.

The United States compared the situation to Iraq, noting that Baghdad had defied agency inspectors and hid plans to make nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction ahead of the spring invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

But diplomats at the meeting warned against seeking parallels between the neighbors.

And Salehi - whose decision to walk out in protest was a first in recent agency memory - accused the United States of provoking the protest.

"At present, nothing pervades their appetite for vengeance, short of confrontation and war," he told the meeting. "It is no secret that the current US administration... entertains the idea of invasion of yet another territory as they aim to re-engineer and reshape the entire Middle East region."