IRAN - UN Delivers Unusually Tough Words

"West says Iran deceives world, cannot dismiss evidence of secret nuclear weapons work" by Associated Press, Washington Post 11/18/2011

Excerpt

The U.S. and its Western allies bluntly accused Iran on Friday of deceiving the world and declared it could no longer dismiss evidence it is working secretly on making nuclear arms.

Iran, in turn, charged the allegations were based on fabricated American, Israeli, British and French intelligence fed to the International Atomic Energy Agency to try and discredit the Islamic Republic.

The unusually tough exchanges were bound to raise international tensions over Iran’s nuclear program — even though the Western statements emphasized that the preferred solution was through diplomacy.

Statements delivered to the IAEA’s 35-nation board by the U.S., and on behalf of Germany, Britain and France, contained no mention of military action — an option that has not been discounted by either Israel or the U.S. if Tehran refuses to stop activities that can be used for nuclear weapons.

Still, they pulled no punches, drawing heavily on a recent IAEA report based on intelligence from more than 10 nations that concluded that some alleged clandestine activities by Iran could not be used for any other purpose than making nuclear arms.

“It is no longer within the bounds of credulity to claim that Iran’s nuclear activities are solely peaceful,” said Glyn Davies, the chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, adding: “There is little doubt that Iran ... at the very least, wants to position itself for a nuclear weapons capability.”

For the three European nations, German chief delegate Ruediger Luedeking said Iranian actions, ...”deepened disbelief in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program.”

With the Nov. 8 report adding substantial weight to previous alleged evidence of Iranian nuclear weapons research and development, dismissing such suspicions “as false and fabricated — as Iran has done in the past — is neither plausible nor believable,” Luedeking added.

Both he and Davies urged delegates to the closed meeting to back a proposed resolution based on the report urging Iran to end more than three years of stonewalling of IAEA attempts to probe the allegations, and to heed U.N. Security Council demands to stop other activities that could be used to make nuclear arms. Their comments were made available to reporters.

In opening words to the meeting, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano voiced similar concerns “regarding possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program,” saying such work may extend into the present. He added his agency finds the information leading to such suspicions to be generally credible.

“The information indicates that Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device,” he said. “It also indicates that, prior to the end of 2003, these activities took place under a structured program, and that some activities may still be ongoing.”