After Tough Report, Nuclear Watchdog Issues Mild Rebuke of Iran

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Source: NY Times

Ten days after the United Nations nuclear watchdog issued its sharpest report to date on Iran’s nuclear program, the global powers meeting in Vienna criticized Tehran on Friday over suspicions that it is building a nuclear weapon. The rebuke, however, fell far short of threatening further pressure or actions to curb Iran’s contentious uranium enrichment program.

The criticism nonetheless drew an immediate and sharp response from an Iranian envoy who insisted that his country would not be deterred “for a second” from a nuclear program it insists is for peaceful purposes. The diplomat also said Iran would not attend a planned meeting next week of Middle Eastern countries, called to discuss ways of freeing the world of nuclear weapons.

The exchanges came at the end of a two-day closed meeting of the 35-member board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, at its headquarters in Vienna. The agency’s report last week drew on a vast trove of evidence to conclude that there was a “credible” case that Iran engaged in secret and possibly continuing efforts to construct a nuclear weapon.

A resolution, approved overwhelmingly, did not refer to punitive measures against Tehran, reflecting the diplomatic balance between Western powers anxious to crank up pressure on Iran and two leading powers in the diplomacy, Russia and China, that have adopted a milder line.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/world/middleeast/nuclear-watchdog-seeks-consensus-on-iran.html