U.N. agency OKs cuts in technical aid to Iran

U.N. nuclear agency governors on Thursday approved cuts in technical aid to Iran to uphold U.N. sanctions implemented over concern that Tehran may be trying to master the means to build atom bombs.

The move by the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reflected a December resolution by the U.N. Security Council banning transfers of technology or expertise to Iran that might be applied to producing nuclear fuel.

Only two other states in the IAEA’s 50-year history have been stripped of nuclear aid over fear about possible diversions into bombmaking -- North Korea and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

Iran says that its nuclear program is meant only to generate electricity. The program is centered on uranium enrichment, a process which can either yield fuel for power plants or for bombs if taken to higher degrees.

Western powers suspect a hidden agenda to build nuclear arms and four years of IAEA investigations often stonewalled by Iran have failed to verify Iran’s intentions are entirely peaceful.

By consensus, the board ratified a decision by the IAEA’s Secretariat to freeze or curb 22 of the 55 aid projects, closing ranks on an issue that earlier had split the governing body.

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Western powers such as the United States and France who bankroll the IAEA’s special aid programs and drew up sanctions against Iran originally demanded more sweeping reductions.

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Unhappy Iran
While Iran says it has the legal right to develop an enrichment program to generate nuclear power, the Security Council has called on it to mothball such activities because of fears it could misuse it to produce the fissile material for warheads.

Ahead of a decision on technical aid, Iran’s chief IAEA delegate, Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, accused the United States and Israel of threatening military attacks on its nuclear facilities and said Security Council sanctions against his country were illegal.

Washington in turn criticized Tehran for ignoring Security Council demands to freeze uranium enrichment and said Iranian “intransigence” in answering questions about its nuclear program raises the level of concern that it might be seeking to make nuclear arms.