Iran Atom Chief Due at IAEA for 11th - Hour Talks 
By Reuters
April 26, 2006
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-nuclear-iran-iaea.html

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran's nuclear energy chief headed to 11th-hour talks at the International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday but the move looked too late to decisively alter an imminent IAEA report to the U.N. Security Council.
Gholamreza Aghazadeh was due at the agency's Vienna complex two weeks after IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, in a rare visit to Tehran, was rebuffed in requests that Iran ``pause'' its uranium enrichment drive and address world doubt about its nuclear aims.
Western powers suspect Iran's professed goal to generate nuclear energy for its economy is a smokescreen for a covert atomic bomb project. But the Security Council is deeply split over whether and how fast to pursue sanctions against Iran.
A war of words between Iran and the West has bubbled in the countdown to ElBaradei's report, due on Friday and widely expected to judge Iran to have ignored a 30-day deadline set by the Council on March 29 to suspend all enrichment-related work.
Aghazadeh was to meet ElBaradei's deputy for nuclear safeguards, Olli Heinonen, in the afternoon. Last week, Heinonen canceled a pre-report factfinding trip to Iran after concluding he would only be stonewalled once again by the Iranians.
A Vienna-based diplomat close to IAEA operations in Iran said Heinonen agreed to receive Aghazadeh in a fresh bid for headway on questions about Tehran's nuclear behavior still outstanding after three years of IAEA probing.
``But whatever he tells us at this late stage, there would be no time for inspectors to check and verify it before the report comes out,'' the diplomat said, asking not to be named in exchange for discussing the confidential meeting.
``All ElBaradei can do is note any information received and say he could not assess whether it was significant.'' 
TOO LATE?
Asked whether this could change the broad thrust of the report, the diplomat said, ``There seems no time for that now.''
The IAEA wants Iran to detail research into P-2 centrifuges, able to enrich uranium fuel to bomb-grade level faster than the P-1 centrifuges it now operates, and credibly clarify its possession of documents showing how to make an atom bomb core.
Another key issue, the IAEA says, is Tehran's failure to explain intelligence reports of links between work on processing of uranium ore, explosives tests and a missile warhead design.
ElBaradei has said that, overall, Iran has not proven it does not harbor a military nuclear program at undeclared locations, and Tehran's halt to short-notice IAEA inspections in February has magnified such concerns.
The Islamic Republic threatened on Tuesday to freeze ties with the IAEA -- which Vienna diplomats said would amount to quitting the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty -- and accelerate its atomic program if it were hit by international sanctions.
The crisis has escalated with Iran's public spurning of the Security Council's March 29 call -- Tehran has announced it can purify uranium for use in fuelling power stations and that it has an active P-2 centrifuge research program.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday it was time for the Security Council to draft a Chapter 7 resolution. This would be binding under international law and allow for sanctions or even military intervention, although another resolution would be required to specify either step.
The United States, Britain and France favor sanctions unless Iran bows to pressure soon but the council's other veto-holders, Russia and China, both with lucrative business stakes in Iran, oppose punitive measures.
``It has always been China's position that this Iranian nuclear issue has to be solved diplomatically,'' China's ambassador to the United Nations, Wang Guangya, said on Tuesday.
``Therefore I think any resolution based on Chapter 7 will not serve the purpose in this regard,'' he said.
France provisionally scheduled a meeting on May 2 of political directors of the council's five permanent members plus Germany to discuss next moves on Iran.