Iran's nuclear program must be brought to UN Security Council: senior US official

WASHINGTON (AFP) Aug 17, 2004
Iran's nuclear program, which the United States charges is a front for atomic weapons development, must be referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions to be imposed on the Islamic Republic, a senior US official said Tuesday.

The under secretary of state for arms control and international security, John Bolton, a noted hawk in President George W. Bush's administration, would not say whether Washington would insist that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) send the matter to the council when it meets next month, but said failure to do so would be a mistake.

"We ... believe that the Iranian nuclear weapons program must be taken up by the UN Security Council," Bolton told a forum on US policy toward Iran at the Hudson Institute, a Washington think-tank.

"Clearly, the time to report this issue to the Security Council is long overdue," he said. "To fail to do so would risk sending a signal to would-be proliferators that there are not serious consequences for pursuing secret nuclear weapons programs."

Bolton called for the international community to isolate Iran over the program, which Tehran adamantly insists is simply for civilian energy purposes, until it comes clean and dismantles any weapons components under independent supervision.

"We cannot let Iran, a leading sponsor of international terrorism, acquire nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to Europe, most of central Asia and the Middle East, or beyond," he said.

"Without serious, concerted, immediate intervention by the international community, Iran will be well on the road to doing so," Bolton added.

He spoke after diplomats at IAEA headquarters in Vienna said the agency's governing board was unlikely say in its report next month whether Iran's nuclear activities are of a military nature and would not recommend referring the case to the Security Council.

However, one source said the report would not deliver "a so-called clean bill of health, which would allow Iran to say that they should be taken off the agenda of the board of governors" of the Vienna-based agency.

The board is due to deliver the report on Iran's nuclear activities during a meeting at the organization's headquarters from September 13 after the last of a group of IAEA inspectors returned from Iran last week.

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