U.S.-Europe Rift Over Iran Nukes

A key meeting of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency stalled Wednesday, reflecting disagreements between the United States and Europe over how firmly to deal with Iran and its suspect nuclear program.

The U.S.-European rift surfaced Tuesday, the second day of a key meeting of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency.

The planned morning session Wednesday was canceled, and agency officials said as the day progressed that it was unlikely the meeting would reconvene before Thursday. The pause was meant to allow informal backdoor negotiations on a draft resolution among the 35 board member nations.

The latest draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press and being circulated informally for reaction from other delegates, was nearly identical to one that France, Britain and Germany came up with Friday — a text that American officials said was not acceptable. It ignored suggestions made by the Americans designed to toughen up the text.

The American suggestions, also made available in full to the AP, demanded that Iran grant agency inspectors "complete, immediate and unrestricted access"; provide "full information" about past illegal nuclear activities; and suspend "immediately and fully" uranium enrichment and related activities.

The agency's meeting has become the main battleground between Iran and the United States, which wants to take Tehran before the U.N. Security Council for alleged violations of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Hossein Mousavian, the chief Iranian delegate to the meeting, downplayed the U.S.-European differences, suggesting the rift was more over style than substance.

"They have the same opinion, but the Americans are in a hurry for a harsh decision and the Europeans believe in dialogue," he told the AP.

The Americans asked that the draft include an Oct. 31 deadline. The EU text remained more vague on both demands and a time frame, asking only that IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei submit a comprehensive report before November for evaluation by the board.

ElBaradei shrugged off the idea of a deadline and repeated that his investigation has not clearly established whether Iran is trying to make nuclear arms — as Washington asserts.

"We haven't seen any concrete proof that there is a weapons program," he told reporters. "Can we say everything is peaceful? Obviously we are not at that stage."

Revelations of the U.S.-Europe rift were expected to prove embarrassing to the Americans, who have expressed confidence that they would be able to bring the Europeans close to their stance.

The Americans "introduced amendments that were beyond what the market would bear," said one senior western diplomat who follows the IAEA, commenting on what he suggested was European defiance. "The European draft is right now going to have support."

A diplomat representing one of the 25 EU countries said part of the problem was that the Americans came in with additional modifications after the European Union thought they were happy with the original draft written by France, Germany and Britain.

The draft resolution is likely still far from any final version being prepared for formal introduction to the board, and diplomats said that in the end it may well include some of the American suggestions.

But they said the tone of some of the U.S. demands — and delays in making them — meant that a final resolution on Iran would not come before close to the end of the week.

In the two years since Iran's nuclear activities surfaced as an object of concern, the U.S. and Europe have frequently disagreed over the tone of statements toward Tehran.

Last November, the U.S. wanted an IAEA statement to make a direct reference to Security Council action — with an implicit threat of sanctions — should Iran fail to come clean on past nuclear secrets and renege on pledges to open present activities to full and pervasive IAEA inspection.

But the three West European nations were opposed, fearing Iran could backtrack on its commitment to clear up questions about its past and cooperate in the future if too strongly pressured.

That led to deadlock that forced the board meeting into unprecedented three-day adjournment and ultimately led the U.S. administration to settle for an indirect reference to the Security Council in the draft.

The United States faced similar resistance at the IAEA when it pressed to refer the North Korea nuclear dispute to the Security Council. Pyongyang had warned it would treat the imposition of sanctions as an act of war.

Since 2002 the United States has alleged that Iran is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon. Dissident groups have provided what they say is intelligence pointing to secret research facilities.

Last year, the IAEA reported it had found "no evidence" Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons, but cannot rule out the possibility because Tehran previously hid parts of its program.

Iran agreed to suspend its enrichment of uranium, but then refused to stop building equipment to facilitate enrichment. Iran agreed last week to halt that work.

Israel has identified Iran's nuclear pursuits as a major security threat and hinted that it could take military action to thwart them, similar to the 1981 air strikes on an Iraqi nuclear reactor.