IAEA lays groundwork for showdown with Iran

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on September 12, at a meeting of its 35-nation board of governors, imposed an October 31 deadline on Iran to finally answer all the agency's questions about the Islamic Republic's nuclear energy programme.

Prime among these were where components with traces of highly enriched uranium that could be weapons-grade had come from and for Iran to sign a protocol allowing IAEA inspectors to make surprise inspections of suspect sites.

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The board is to be presented with a report on Iraqi compliance by November 10 and then meet on November 20, IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei warned Iran the IAEA could declare it to be in non-compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if it failed to answer all the agency's questions.

If the IAEA finds Iran in non-compliance with this international accord, which since 1970 has mandated efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, it could bring the issue to the UN Security Council, which has the power to impose punishing sanctions on the Islamic republic.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the Iranian ambassador to the IAEA, reacted to the deadline by warning that Iran might cut off cooperation with the UN watchdog and even withdraw from the NPT.

Salehi's comments raised fears Iran could go the way of North Korea, which last December kicked out IAEA inspectors and then withdrew from the NPT, leaving no international means of verification in the country.

The IAEA, which finished meeting here Friday, declared North Korea in February to be in non-compliance.

But in a surprise development on September 15, at a general conference of all 137 IAEA states, Iranian vice president and atomic energy agency chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh said that Iran remained fully committed to the NPT despite its objections to being handed a deadline.