Nuke Inspectors: Sanctions Not Working on Iran
The New York Times reports that despite UN Security Council sanctions, Iran is still not cooperating fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency:
Three months after the United Nations Security Council enacted its harshest sanctions yet against Iran, global nuclear inspectors reported Monday that the country has dug in its heels, refusing to provide inspectors with the information and access they need to determine whether the real purpose of Tehran’s program is to produce weapons.
For several weeks the Obama administration has argued that the sanctions are beginning to bite, cutting off Iran’s access to foreign capital, halting investment in its energy sector and impeding its ability to send its ships in and out of some foreign ports.
While there are strong indications that Iran is beginning to feel pain — largely from additional sanctions imposed by the United States and European and Asian nations over the summer — the report on Monday from the International Atomic Energy Agency indicates that so far they have failed to force Iran to comply with longstanding requests.
The agency protested that Iran had barred two of its most experienced inspectors from the country. They were barred only days after the Security Council passed its latest sanctions, part of a longstanding pattern of reducing access in retaliation for United Nations action. Iran has, however, permitted some other inspectors to enter.
The report also reiterated that for two years, since August 2008, Iran has refused to answer questions “about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed nuclear-related activities involving military-related organizations, including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile.” The report said it was “essential that Iran engage with the agency on these issues” because evidence can degrade with “the passage of time.”
Iran has argued that it has the right to throw out inspectors it does not trust, and said in case after case that the agency, a unit of the United Nations, had “no legal basis” to make its requests.
The Obama administration said the report demonstrated that Iran “continues its effort to expand its nuclear program and move closer to a nuclear weapons capability,” an acknowledgment that, at least so far, the sanctions have not forced Iran to change its direction.
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