VIENNA - A six-year probe of Iran has failed to rule out the possibility that the country may be running clandestine nuclear programs, the chief U.N nuclear inspector said yesterday, urging the country to end its secretive ways.
Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also warned a 145-nation conference that his organization is increasingly stretched in trying to monitor responsibilities that include nonproliferation in countries like Iran and preventing terrorists from acquiring the bomb.
“All is not well with the IAEA,” ElBaradei said, asking the opening session of the agency’s general conference for more money and authority.
The meeting has traditionally been an annual chance for the United Nations nuclear monitoring agency’s member countries to plan general nuclear policies that range from strengthening nonproliferation to programs of medical and scientific benefit.
Decisions have been traditionally made by consensus, a practice that had led all sides to bridge sometimes substantial differences and compromise on most issues for most of the general conference’s 52-year history. A vote on any topic is unusual and considered a huge dent in the meeting’s credibility.
But Arab countries, backed by Iran and frustrated over Israel’s refusal to put its nuclear program under international purview, are pushing to force a vote for the third year running.
After losing the vote two consecutive years, Islamic nations are threatening to up the ante this year, warning they will call for a ballot on every item, no matter how uncontroversial.
As in the past two years, Islamic IAEA members are expected to put forward a resolution urging all Mideast nations to refrain from testing or developing nuclear arms and urging nuclear weapons states “to refrain from any action” hindering a Mideast nuclear-free zone.
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