Iran’s membership in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) goes back four decades. During this period Tehran has met all its commitments to the world’s top nuclear body. What needs to be verified is whether or not the IAEA has also fulfilled its commitments.
One need not be a nuclear scientist to understand that for long, the last five years in particular, the nuclear watchdog has been routinely used (abused) by the big powers and has all but forgotten about its own responsibilities.
The agency has two main tasks: ensure that nuclear materials are not diverted for military purposes, and promote scientific and technical cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
As far as we know, the agency has hardly delivered on these two key issues and its performance leaves much to be desired.
When India and Pakistan declared that they had passed the military nuclear threshold and had the bomb, it was proved that the important UN body was not what it was meant to be.
The same is true of Israel another non-member. By stockpiling over 200 nuclear warheads, it has effectively ridiculed the IAEA’s goals.
In the past half century, great powers such as the US and Russia have conducted many nuclear tests to further expand their nuclear arsenals. Currently, the number of atomic bombs that the five veto powers of the UN Security Council possess is more than enough to devastate the entire planet 40 times.
As if this is not enough, the nuke powers still crave for more weapons of mass destruction and almost daily we hear or read about the terrible expansion in the WMDs of the mighty!!
It is regrettable that the IAEA has paid little if any heed to its founding principle regarding its second goal. One case in point is Iran’s nuclear program.
Although most IAEA reports have acknowledged that Iran is utilizing nuclear materials for civilian use, some big powers have resorted to every trick to convey otherwise. As such, it must be said that the apparent weakness of the agency has hindered Iran’s efforts to fulfill its legitimate right in this respect.
Article Four of the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) underlines the right of all IAEA-members to research in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Note Two of the article states that those countries that have access to nuclear technology and knowledge are obliged to assist other nations that lack such technology and knowledge to acquire it.
But in practice things are vastly different. Big powers refuse to help other countries (save for a few strategic allies) in their search for peaceful nuclear technology and often create obstacles in their way.
About 45 countries have a situation similar to ours. But, the agency has not raised any serious objection to their activities.
Between 2003 and 2006 the IAEA issued six resolutions against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program all of which contradict the NPT. None of the resolutions, obviously passed under Anglo-American pressure, have legitimacy nor are they in line with international law or the NPT.
Based on articles 51 and 52 of the Vienna Convention, it is illegal to force countries to join an international treaty. This is while the IAEA board of governors in its September 2003 resolution demanded that Iran sign the additional protocol to NPT.
America and Britain are so impudent that their demands on Iran transcend our known commitment to the NPT. Their most unusual and illegal demand is that we suspend all uranium enrichment work.
In none of the articles of NPT is uranium enrichment considered illegal. Why the Security Council should make such absurd demands is anybody’s guess.
For more than three years Tehran has been dealing appropriately against the illogical demands of the big powers and the agency.
Iran has made it clear that what the UN nuclear watchdog is demanding is a direct extension of the demands by the US, Israel and Britain, and has nothing to do with the international community.
Iran has been successful in this respect and 200 nations have verified that its nuclear activities are of a peaceful nature.
On several occasions our senior officials have announced their preparedness to improve the transparency of the nuclear program in the course of negotiations and thus address some international concerns.
On Tuesday, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani delivered Iran’s response to the package of incentives offered by the so-called 5+1 group.
Iran has said in the response that it has sufficiently heeded the positive aspects of the offer to continue to cooperate further with the agency. Secondly, Iran has done its best to remove the ambiguities that may exist.
Third, reference has been made to the so-called new commitments that Tehran has been called to undertake which are not in line with the NPT. The Islamic state has informed the agency that it will not bend to demands that hinder our overall development. Fourth, Tehran has made clear-cut proposals for helping break the present deadlock created by some countries.
Iran has left all options open for continuing the negotiations. If the agency and the UNSC are not interested, it is their problem.
It should not be doubted that the nuclear officials are performing in tandem with the demands of 70 million Iranians. Let us hope that they continue to pursue the path of diplomacy in defending our national security and interest.