Tightening IAEA's position on Iran is possible only after new secretary general: Russia analyst
Azerbaijan, Baku, November 14 / Trend , E.Ostapenko /
New IAEA report on Iran will have the spirit like previous ones. The gradual tightening of the Agency's position with respect to Iran can only be expected after a new Secretary General - Japanese Yukiya Amano- comes to office in December, believes Russian leading analyst on Iran, Vladimir Yevseyev.
"A harder report on Iran can be expected after Yukiya Amano takes the office, Yevseyev told Trend by telephone from Moscow. - Amano is not an Arab or Muslim. All the ideological and religious matters mean little for him".
Yukiya Amano will take the office as a director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency on December 1, replacing Mohamed ElBaradei, who has been heading the IAEA for 12 years.
But one more IAEA report on the results of investigations in Iran will be provided by the acting head of the Agency ElBaradei. The report is expected to be issued next week.
No major changes will be made in the report. This report will be in the style of El-Baradei, he again will not give uniqueness, said Yevseyev, senior fellow at the Center for International Security at the Institute for World Economy and International Relations of Russian Academy of Sciences.
In his latest report, ElBaradei said the IAEA has made sure the peaceful character of several directions of the Iranian nuclear program, but questions still remain on several developments. ElBaradei appealed to countries to exercise maximum restraint and not to use force or action to isolate Iran, bypassing the UN Security Council, but vice-versa, in every way to use diplomacy and negotiations to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem.
According to Yevseyev, the new report will surely contain information about the second nuclear facility in Qom (located in 100 kilometers south from Tehran). Iran notified the IAEA of its construction on September 21 before a meeting in Tehran with the six international mediators on the Iranian nuclear issue (Russia, USA, China, Britain, France and Germany). After the talks in Geneva on October 1, ElBaradei visited Tehran and agreed upon arrangements for the inspection at the new nuclear facility.
Information on Iran's construction of a new uranium enrichment plant has caused serious concern in most countries. In particular, the United States expressed doubts about the peaceful uses of the plant in Qom. A U.S. Administration official said the United States has been watching the construction of Iran's second uranium enrichment plant for several years and came to conclusion that its size is insufficient to produce fuel for nuclear power plant. However, according to the data provided by the U.S., the plant is able to accommodate up to 3,000 centrifuges, and to ensure the amount of enriched uranium enough to make one nuclear bomb per year.
Not respecting the agreement, Iran takes a step towards imposing new sanctions, Yevseyev said. The question is when these sanctions will be made by the UN Security Council.
"On December 1, the deadline given to Iran for a final answer to the proposal to export low-enriched uranium expires. It is not clear that Iran is going to export," said Yevseyev.
IAEA meeting in Vienna on October 21 with the participation of Iran, France, Russia and the United States has developed a package of proposals for additional enrichment of Iranian uranium abroad, later to use it in a research reactor in Tehran.
The following scheme for solving this problem was proposed:
Having received the nuclear material enriched at about 3.5 percent from Iran, Russia will enrich it at 19.75 percent and send to France, where fuel assemblies will be manufactured through the American technology. The experts consider that Iran needs 116 kilograms of fresh fuel, which requires about 1,200 kilograms of raw materials. According to the IAEA estimations, up to now Iran managed to produce about 1,500 kilograms of raw materials by using gas centrifuges in Natanz.
"Most likely, the sanctions will be introduced next year, said Yevseyev. - This is the most anticipated events, because I do not believe that Iran will agree to export uranium."
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