By Mark Heinrich
Reuters
Friday, January 26, 2007; 12:11 PM
VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran, cranking up a war of nerves with the West, has demanded the removal of the official running U.N. nuclear inspections, diplomats said on Friday.
Warning of a spiral toward conflict, the head of the U.N. atomic agency called on Iran and the West to declare a "timeout" under which Iranian nuclear work and U.N. sanctions would be suspended simultaneously.
Tehran's move, following a ban on 38 inspectors from four major Western nations announced on Monday, appeared aimed at testing Western resolve over its disputed nuclear activity while stopping short of violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
An Iranian diplomat quoted by the official news agency IRNA accused the International Atomic Energy Agency's Iran section head of passing on confidential information about Iranian nuclear sites to nations arrayed against Tehran.
In addition, any inspectors from Western countries that sponsored U.N. sanctions slapped on Iran last month were now barred from working in Iran, the unnamed diplomat said.
Iran was penalized by the U.N. Security Council a month ago for refusing to stop enriching uranium, the pathway to fuel for atomic energy or bombs, and impeding IAEA investigations into a nuclear program that was clandestine for 18 years.
Western powers suspect Iran is trying to assemble warheads behind the facade of a civilian nuclear power project. Tehran, the world's No. 4 exporter of oil, says it is seeking only peaceful nuclear generation of electricity.
Iran has brushed off the U.N. ban on transfers of sensitive materials and know-how to its nuclear program. It plans to start installing 3,000 centrifuges shortly, escalating a modest, experimental enrichment project to "industrial-scale."
A senior Vienna diplomat familiar with IAEA operations said Iran had written to the agency asking for the ouster of Chris Charlier, a Belgian in charge of the agency's Iran dossier.
IRAN BARRED CHARLIER LAST YEAR
He has been in Tehran's sights before. Last year, it barred Charlier from further visits, accusing him of anti-Iranian bias. IAEA sources dismissed the allegations. Charlier kept his post.
"The Iranians have not made threats here, they're just being persistent," another Vienna diplomat close to the IAEA said on Friday. The agency did not comment.
The Iranian diplomat quoted by IRNA said the inspector gave confidential information to "inappropriate countries and their media."
"Iran's cooperation with the IAEA will continue in the framework of the NPT ..., which means inspections and supervisions will continue," IRNA quoted the diplomat as saying.
Asked about the report, Alisasghar Soltanieh, Iran's IAEA ambassador, told Reuters: "It means we expect Charlier will not have anything to do with Iran any more. There are plenty of impartial experts in the IAEA secretariat to do the job."
IRNA's diplomat also said there would be no place for inspectors from countries behind measures against "Iran's peaceful nuclear activities." He appeared to be referring to Britain, France and Germany, which authored the U.N. sanctions.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei appealed to Iran and the West to declare a "timeout."
He told invited journalists that face-saving gestures of goodwill, not preconditions for talks set by the council, were needed to stave off conflict that could inflame the Middle East.
"(A) military solution ... is absolutely bonkers. It would only strengthen the hand of (Iranian) hardliners. They would simply go underground. If you have the knowledge (to enrich), you cannot bomb the knowledge."
Fears the United States is preparing to attack Iran despite denials have been raised by the arrival of an additional U.S. aircraft carrier in the Gulf and a U.S. warning it would not let Iran provide weapons and support to insurgents in Iraq.
(Additional reporting by Thomas Atkins in Davos and Alireza Ronaghi in Tehran)