IAEA CORRECTS CONGRESS

by MONITOR
THE prospect of a replay of the 2002/03 recriminations between the US government and the UN Weapons Inspectors over Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction opened up yesterday when the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency sent an angry letter to the US Congress over a report which, it said, contained ”erroneous, misleading and unsubstantiated information” about Iran's nuclear programme. The report was published in late–August by the Congressional Intelligence Committee under the title ”Recognising Iran as a Strategic Threat: An Intelligence Challenge for the United States” and included an assertion that Iran is producing ”weapons–grade uranium”. The letter said: ”Weapons–grade is commonly used to refer to uranium enriched to the order of 90 per cent but Iran has enriched uranium only to a 3.6 per cent level.” The letter also challenged the Congressional report's insinuation that nuclear inspectors were following an ”unstated IAEA policy” of suppressing information about Iran's nuclear work. The United States and the IAEA seldom see eye to eye. If the Agency's inspectors had been given more time for their work in Iraq the invasion and all its consequences could probably have been averted. In the case of Iran's nuclear programme, Washington is again in a hurry to persuade the UN Security Council to take action before negotiations are exhausted. The US fought unsuccessfully against the re–appointment of the agency's Director General, Mohammed ELBaradei for months before he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a year ago.