[DoctorZIn]

Head of U.N. Agency Defends Iran Dialogue

[ Excerpt] December 03, 2004
The Wall Street Journal
John Holland

Mohamed ElBaradei, at the center of the United Nations' efforts to monitor countries' nuclear-energy programs, portrays his agency as part "caring mother" to help nations take benign advantage of the technology and part detective to ensure purportedly peaceful programs aren't aimed at churning out arsenals of horrific weapons.

The Egyptian-born diplomat acknowledges playing that dual role as director general of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency makes him a lightning rod for critics who see the agency as either too lenient or too intrusive. "It's a very stressful job," he says. "I have been vilified by as many countries [as] have been subject to inspection," including Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

The U.S. has been among the IAEA's loudest critics, expressing skepticism most recently that Iran is acting in good faith after the agency earlier this week endorsed a European deal with Iran to suspend its uranium-enrichment program. Mr. ElBaradei concedes a "confidence deficit" has been created by two decades of Tehran's secret work on a nuclear capability and less-than-full cooperation in the first year of IAEA inspections.

But Mr. ElBaradei, who has worked at the agency since 1984, seems determined to press on with the balancing act, saying he is "fairly open" to election to a third, four-year term as director general by the IAEA's 35-nation board and pledging to maintain strong ties with the second Bush administration. "The stakes are so high that we cannot afford to disagree," he says of the agency's relations with the U.S. "We must continue to work as partners." ...

Below is an edited transcript:

Why is there so much focus on Iran ?

Iran is a very important test case -- how verification and diplomacy work in tandem. I have always advocated that we need to use every possible way to resolve issues of concern regarding the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Confidence building means a variety of things and not just dialogue and exercising pressure. We should not think of coercive measures before we exhaust all possible ways of resolving issues. In many cases, confrontation is not the best option. It leads to the exact opposite to what you want to achieve.

We have made a lot of progress in Iran . The last 18 months the knowledge we have now in terms of the extent of the Iranian program is nothing compared to 18 months ago, and shows that inspection really works. But at the same time because the Iran program has been undeclared for almost two decades, Iran has not been fully cooperative for the first year of our inspection. We have a confidence deficit, and that's why the international community is concerned. We are still holding our horses before I can give you the assurance that everything in Iran is declared. I still need to do a lot of work in Iran before I can come to that conclusion. The more transparency and cooperation I see in Iran , the easier my job will be. But I am not jumping to the conclusion that because we have seen smoke, it is absolutely fire -- that because we have seen Iran developing the know-how in a clandestine way, this must be a nuclear-weapon program. We have not seen a clear proof that these activities are linked to a nuclear-weapon program. What we are saying is the jury is still out.

What do you say to critics who say dialogue with Iran won't work?

The dialogue between Iran and the Europeans deals with the causes of the symptoms that are our concern -- the need for social and economic development in Iran , the need for conventional technology and security. The discussion is how we can integrate Iran with Europe and the rest of the community, how we can address their security concern, how we can have a trade and cooperation agreement. In return, Iran will be asked to provide full transparency, full cooperation. Basically at the end of the day our objective is for Iran to feel secure enough and integrated enough and the rest of the world to feel secure enough that Iran is not trying to build a nuclear-weapon program.

But don't you also need a credible backup if that doesn't work?

Of course you can have the [United Nations] Security Council as a backup. If you conclude in a particular country -- and I am not talking about Iran -- that there is an imminent threat, a clear and present danger of using weapons of mass destruction, then you can obviously think of a pre-emptive action. But that pre-emptive action should be collective, in the Security Council, to have the legitimacy required. We are not there at all in the case of Iran , I think.

Unlike the situation in Iraq, if you use force simply because a country has a [nuclear-weapon] know-how, you will force a country to rebuild the program underground and have the goal of achieving a nuclear parity as an absolute national priority. I am not sure that the use of force at all in the case of Iran could be a solution. There is a sense of insecurity and isolation on the part of Iran and this sort of issue can only be resolved in a dialogue, where both parties put their concern on the table and find a solution. That is what the Europeans are trying to do. I hope that will work. I do not want to jump the gun. We can assess the situation a year from now and see how things are.

You cannot continue to have a club of nuclear-weapon states saying that we will keep our weapons but nobody else will have these weapons. I've always said a situation of "haves" and "have-nots" is not sustainable. Everybody will try to achieve parity because nuclear weapons are perceived around the globe as a source of power, prestige and deterrence. We need to build a system of collective security that does not have nuclear deterrence as a base. Until we do, we are going to have a lot of proliferation efforts.

Are we destined to have a world where most countries have a nuclear-weapon program and we have to get them to use it responsibly?

We are either going to have in the next 10-20 years, scores of countries sitting on either nuclear weapons or nuclear-weapon capability, or we are going to say this is not the kind of world we would like to live under -- this is really a recipe for our self destruction and let us try to see an alternative system of collective security where everybody feels secure and does not rely on nuclear weapons.

How do we achieve that?

That is a major challenge because we really haven't faced it so far. Many countries feel we have to rely on nuclear weapons because that has kept the peace since the second world war. It's a question of time before we face the possibility of a miscalculation, an accident, or a crazy leader using nuclear weapons. We have to understand that we have a major problem on our hands. We need to think differently in terms of how our global security is going to look like in the future.

Isolation is not the solution. That's simply a jolt to national pride [where people say] "we are isolated. Let us then huddle together and overcompensate." Usually with isolation, it's extremism from either the right or left that takes control.

[AdmSmith]

Rafsanjani says Iran expected to join club of nuclear states soon

http://www.irna.ir/?SAB=OK&LANG=EN&PART=_HOME&TYPE=HP&id=200412031607330

Tehran, Dec 3, IRNA -- Tehran`s substitute Friday Prayers Leader Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said here today that Iran is expected to join the club of world states owning nuclear industries soon. Making the remark before thousands of worshipers who had gathered at Tehran University campus for the ritual, he made it clear that Tehran is in no way going to forsake its legal and international right to gain access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Outlining the developments in Iran`s nuclear case in the past two years, he said Iran was not unhappy with the performance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well as the west on Iranian nuclear dossier but stressed that "they have been doing wrong towards us because the Islamic Republic of Iran has been acting lawfully in gaining access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes."

The substitute prayers leader further said that Iran has agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment activities for a certain period of time- not to exceed six months- to ensure the IAEA on the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities. Rafsanjani, who is also the chief of Iran`s Expediency Council, went on to underline the fact that once the period is over Tehran is going to frankly pursue its uranium enrichment programs and also its efforts to achieve nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. However, he noted, "I absolutely offer the world the assurance that Tehran is not after nuclear arms but will not forsake its absolute right."

According to the stated regulations, he added, the IAEA has to assist the countries not currently owning nuclear technology to gain access to it. The law, he remarked, encouraged Iran to become a member of IAEA in order to enjoy its services and assistance. In spite of this, the IAEA has always tried to create obstacles for Iran and has now come to make remarks on what Tehran has accomplished all by itself, Rafsanjani added. Pointing out that in the past two years Iran has step by step opened the doors to IAEA inspectors to assure them of the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities, Rafsanjani said the IAEA has only recently admitted that Iran`s nuclear activities have not been diverted towards military objectives. Describing this as a "success" for the country, Rafsanjani referred to the threats to refer Iran`s case to the UN Security Council and imposing sanctions against Tehran as examples of the threats Iran has been facing in the past two harsh years. He noted that Iran`s nuclear case is presently at a stage that it is admitted now that Iran could have its nuclear fuel cycle with Iran accepting to suspend its nuclear activities in a gesture to deflate the threats.

He said Iranian negotiators have been acting according the Islamic system`s decision and nobody could be blamed in this connection. Rafsanjani also asserted that Iran was not by any means after nuclear arms but was never to forsake its legal rights. He further commented on situation in Iraq and said the best solution for Iraqi crisis is the holding of election, formation of a national and Islamic Assembly so that the Constitution is compiled and aliens play no role in Iraq. The Friday prayers leader recommended the Iraqi nation to keep its vigilance and safeguard its unity in a bid to regain the management of the country from the hands of occupying forces.

On Palestine, he expressed his hope that Palestinian leaders are vigilant enough not to let their internal differences turn into a civil war. He further turned to outstanding potential of Iran`s navy forces and said no other forces could ever rival the might of Iranian navy in the region. Rafsanjani pointed out that even in days of imposed war against Iran by Iraqi invaders, the Iranian navy managed to provide and maintain security in the Persian Gulf the coast of which entails world`s richest oil and gas sources including the South Pars region which contains 10 percent of world`s gas resources.

Referring to the very remarkable achievements of Iran`s marine industries, he said Iranian experts are now capable of building and installing multi thousand-tons grand platforms and remarked that Iranian oil companies now have the ability to enter competitions with world biggest ones.

comments: This is straight from the horse's mouth. Time to take them out.