IAEA on Iran

The International Atomic Energy Agency's latest report on Iran is in: "Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council resolutions 1737 (2006) and 1747 (2007) in the Islamic Republic of Iran," Report by the Director General (15 November 2007). Activists should emphasize these points from the IAEA report, keeping in mind that weapons-grade uranium must be enriched to about 90% U-235:

• "While Iran has stated that it has reached enrichment levels up to 4.8% U-235 at FEP, the highest U-235 enrichment measured so far from the environmental samples taken by the Agency from cascade components and related equipment is 4.0%" (emphasis added, p. 6).


• "The Agency has been able to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran" (p. 8).


• "The Agency has been able to conclude that answers provided on the declared past P-1 and P-2 centrifuge programmes are consistent with its findings" (p. 8).


• "Iran has provided sufficient access to individuals and has responded in a timely manner to questions and provided clarifications and amplifications on issues raised in the context of the work plan" (p. 8).

Headlines about this IAEA report today, by the way, say a lot about political orientations of media, e.g.:

• "Elbaradei's Report Confirms Tehran's Co-op with IAEA" (Xinhua)


• "Ahmadinejad Hails IAEA Report on Iranian Nuclear Program" (RIA Novosti)


• "Gute Noten: Die Internationale Atomenergiebehörde bescheinigt dem Iran Fortschritte bei der Zusammenarbeit" (Vanity Fair)


• "IAEA Praises Iranian Cooperation but Admits Tehran Still Enriching Uranium" (Yitzhak Benhorin, Ynetnews)


• "IAEA: Iran Generally Truthful on Nukes" (George Jahn, Associated Press, ABC)


• "IAEA Says Iranian Data Has Been Mostly Accurate" (Associated Press, Wall Street Journal)


• "Iran 'Improves' Atomic Transparency" (Agencies, Al Jazeera)


• "Iran Reveals How It Built Nuclear Program, U.N. Says" (Maggie Farley, Los Angeles Times)


• IAEA Sees Progress but Says Iran Still Enriching Uranium (AFP)


• "Iran More Transparent But Expands Nuclear Campaign" (Mark Heinrich, Reuters)


• "IAEA: Iran Was Cooperative with UN Nuclear Probe, But Still Defying Demands" (Agencies and Ha'aretz)


• IAEA Report: Teheran Is Coming Clean" (Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post)


• "Nucléaire iranien : Téhéran a fait des "progrès substantiels" mais insuffisants selon l'AIEA" (Le Monde with AFP)


• "U.N. Releases Report on Iran’s Nuclear Program" (Elaine Sciolino and William J. Broad, New York Times)


• "Report Exposes 'Nuclear-ready' Iran" (AFP, The Age)


• "Iran Fails to Resolve Nuclear Questions" (James Blitz, Daniel Dombey, and Najmeh Bozorghmehr, Financial Times)


• "Report Raises New Doubts on Iran Nuclear Program" (Elaine Sciolino and William J. Broad, New York Times, A1)


• "IAEA: Iran Providing 'Diminishing' Information on Its Nuclear Program" (Robin Wright, Washington Post)


• "U.N. Losing Grip on Iran Nuke Plan" (CNN)


• "IAEA: Iran Not Open About Nuke Program" (George Jahn, Associated Press)


• Julian Borger, "Decision Time for US over Iran Threat: UN Nuclear Report Heightens Tension" (Guardian)


• "Iran Could Build Atom Bomb within One Year, Says Nuclear Watchdog" (Tom Baldwin and Michael Theodoulou, Times)

UK papers turn out to be the worst, much worse than US and Israeli papers in fact. The Russian and Chinese takes give us a ray of hope.

Update

This just in: "A meeting of world powers on tougher sanctions on Iran has been cancelled after China pulled out, European diplomatic sources said on Friday, revealing tensions after a key report into Tehran's atomic activities" (Sophie Walker, "UPDATE 2 -- Iran Sanctions Meeting Cancelled -- European Diplomats," Reuters, 16 November 2007). Great news.