Original source URL: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112106E.shtml http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Nuclear-Agency-Iran.html?_r=1&oref=slogin November 21, 2006 Diplomats Favor Denying Iran Request By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 4:06 p.m. ET VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Iran's call for help in building a plutonium-producing reactor appeared headed for rejection, with diplomats at a 35-nation meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency saying Tuesday that many of Tehran's traditional allies favored denying the request. The diplomats -- all participating in an International Atomic Energy Agency committee meeting -- said there was majority support for approving IAEA aid on seven other Iranian projects, but for refusing help on the eighth: the construction of the Arak reactor that will produce plutonium, a possible pathway to nuclear arms. The United States was a chief supporter of that approach. ''There was a certain pragmatism that we weren't going to win on the other ones,'' a U.S. official told The Associated Press, explaining why Washington did not push for a ban on all eight Iran aid requests. Some diplomats accredited to the meeting also suggested a parallel U.S. decision to tread lightly while Washington considers seeking direct dialogue with Tehran on reducing Iraq violence. The U.S. official, who demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly on the issue -- said: ''I would not discount that as a factor.'' The decision on IAEA technical aid to Iran was to be made formally Thursday, once the committee looking at hundreds of aid requests from member countries ends its work and the full board meeting begins. The chairman of that meeting will likely announce approval of all the Iranian projects except for Arak, four diplomats said, speaking independently and also asking for anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the closed meeting. The diplomats emphasized that the agreement was tentative. But they said it was the most likely scenario for resolving differences over the issue. With the U.N. Security Council stalemated on the severity of sanctions on Iran for defying its demand to cease uranium enrichment, the focus has shifted to the board, which in February referred Iran to the council, suggesting it had breached the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and might be trying to make nuclear weapons. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country is the chief opponent of strong U.N. sanctions, nonetheless admonished Iran for not cooperating with an IAEA investigation into its nuclear activities. ''We would like every blank spot uncovered by the IAEA in the Iranian nuclear program to be clarified,'' Lavrov told the ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies. Highly enriched uranium and reprocessed plutonium both can be used for the fissile core of nuclear warheads, even though Iran insists it wants to enrich to lower levels used to generate power and seeks to build the Arak reactor only to produce radioactive isotopes for medical use. Regardless of the decision on Iran's aid request for Arak, construction of the reactor was expected to be finished in the next decade, and could produce enough plutonium for about two bombs a year. Rebuffing Iran's Arak request would also have no effect on Iran's uranium enrichment. Still, it would maintain at least symbolic pressure during the Security Council stalemate. As the U.S. and its allies lobbied against approval of the Arak aid request, Iran's chief delegate Ali Ashgar Soltanieh accused opposing nations of ''imposing their politically motivated and discriminatory policies'' on the meeting. The agency routinely approves hundreds of technical aid projects each year, most of them dealing with nuclear medicine, agricultural pest prevention and similar programs with no obvious link to atomic arms. But fears that Tehran might be seeking to develop an arms program turned this year's technical aid committee meeting into a heavily politicized event, dooming the Arak request, even though it was nothing more than helping to make sure the reactor will be environmentally safe. The other seven projects are less controversial. One asks for help in developing nuclear capabilities for medical use. Another seeks legal aid for the Russian-built Bushehr reactor, which even the Americans have accepted as not posing a threat of nuclear proliferation. The five others request assistance in administrative or safety aspects of nuclear power. 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