AP: U.S. Push to Strip Iran of Aid Resisted

U.S. Push to Strip Iran of Aid Resisted

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

(01-16) 16:22 PST VIENNA, Austria (AP) --

A U.S. push to greatly reduce U.N. nuclear aid to Iran as part of Security Council
sanctions is facing opposition from traditional U.S. allies in the European Union
as well as from developing nations, diplomats said Tuesday.

Resistance was expected from developing nations on the board of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, which provides technical assistance to Iran to bolster the
use of nuclear energy. Most of those countries usually support Tehran's assertion
that it has the right to develop uranium enrichment technology, a process that can
create fuel for energy but also the fissile material for nuclear warheads.

But any European opposition could erode attempts to present a unified Western front
on dealing with Iran's nuclear defiance. The sanctions imposed on Iran last month
for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment came after months of wrangling between
Russia and China — which favored lighter penalties — and the U.S. and European
countries, which wanted tougher ones.

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Several diplomats said disagreements have arisen between the U.S. and other IAEA
members seeking broad reductions and those with a more moderate views.

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Iran invites IAEA envoys to visit nuclear sites

By Mark Heinrich

Tue Jan 16, 6:43 PM ET

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has invited envoys from developing nations accredited
to the U.N. nuclear watchdog to visit its nuclear sites in a show of openness
about its atomic fuel program, diplomats said.

The Islamic Republic has been slapped with limited U.N. sanctions over
suspicions that its experimental efforts to enrich uranium are secretly geared
to building atom bombs, rather than to generating electricity as it maintains.

Iran has defiantly vowed to expand into industrial-scale fuel production,
but has also pledged continued compliance with International Atomic Energy
Agency inspections while trying to rally diplomatic support in its stand-off
with Western powers.

Tehran has invited envoys from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) of developing
nations attached to the IAEA, and heads of the larger Group of 77 states and
of the Arab League office in Vienna, to visit on February 2-6, an Iranian
diplomat said.

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