Iran signed in Vienna on Thursday an additional protocol to the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which allows snap
inspections of its nuclear facilities, a step trying to dispel the
suspicion over its alleged covert nuclear program.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), and Ali Akabar Salehi, Iran's representative
to the UN nuclear watchdog, signed the agreement at the agency's
headquarters in Vienna.
The protocol, tacked on to the NPT, subjects Iran's all nuclear
facilities to the IAEA inspections.
The protocol gives IAEA inspectors the power to carry out
searches at shorter notice, with as little as two hours' warning,
and grants the IAEA broader searching powers, including the right
to demand information on activities at private entities not
connected to the government, and the right to take environmental
samples and check radiation levels in wider areas.
The protocol also places stronger obligations on a state to
report all matters relating to its nuclear fuel cycle to the IAEA,
including imported machine components and uranium mining.
The conclusion of the protocol came after IAEA adopted a
resolution in November, censuring Iran for its covert nuclear
activities, a compromise between the United States, who urged the
IAEA to condemn Iran, and Britain, France and Germany, who demanded
that Iran be rewarded for its cooperation with the UN nuclear
watchdog since October.??
Earlier this year, the IAEA threatened to submit Iran to the UN
Security Council for possible sanctions.
The United States has always alleged that Iran has been
developing secret nuclear program, an accusation Iran denied. On
the contrary, it repeatedly claims that the nuclear program is only
of a civil nature.
As a signatory country of the NPT, Iran is forbidden to develop
nuclear weapons.
(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2003)