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Iran tells nuke agency to remove cameras
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-07 07:07
Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency to remove surveillance
cameras and agency seals from sites and nuclear equipment by the end of next
week in response to referral to the U.N. Security Council, the agency said
Monday.
Iran's president
Mahmoud Ahamdinejad, claps during a ceremony at the 13th Iranian world
prize for Book of the Year, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Feb. 6, 2006.
[AP] | Iran's demands came two days after the IAEA
reported Tehran to the council over its disputed atomic program.
In a confidential report to the IAEA's 35-member board, agency head Mohamed
ElBaradei said Iran also announced a sharp reduction in the number and kind of
inspections IAEA experts will be allowed, effective immediately.
The report was dated Monday and made available to The Associated Press.
The moves were expected. Iranian officials had repeatedly warned they would
stop honoring the so-called "Additional Protocol" to the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty — an agreement giving IAEA inspectors greater authority
— if the IAEA board referred their country to the council.
A diplomat close to the Vienna-based IAEA told the AP that Iran had also
moved forward on another threat — formally setting a date for resuming
full-scale work on its uranium enrichment program. Iran says it wants to make
fuel through enrichment, but the activity can also generate the nuclear core of
warheads.
The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter was
confidential, refused to divulge the date set by Ali Larijani, Iran's chief
nuclear negotiator, in a letter received Monday by ElBaradei.
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