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UN nuclear agency sends Syria to Security Council

09 June 2011 17:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has recommended that Syria be brought before the U.N. Security Council for violating its safeguard agreements, citing Syria’s undeclared construction of a nuclear reactor, APA reports quoting news.yahoo.com website.

A majority of the voting members of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors on Thursday supported the recommendation, which was drawn up by Washington and 12 of its allies.

The IAEA action is separate from another effort by European nations to have the U.N. Security Council condemn the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad for its deadly crackdown on protesters.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

VIENNA (AP) â€” The International Atomic Energy Agency votes Thursday on a U.S.-led effort to bring Syria before the U.N. Security Council for failing to provide information on a covert nuclear reactor.

The push by Washington and 12 allies comes alongside a separate effort by European nations to have the Security Council condemn the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad for its deadly crackdown on protesters.

Ministers of the IAEA’s 35 governing members have been meeting since Monday to discuss a raft of issues ranging from the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to a lack of satisfactory cooperation from member states, including Syria and Iran.

In a key report before this week’s meeting, IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano said Syria should have declared the Dair Alzour site, which was destroyed by Israeli warplanes in 2007. But since 2008, the IAEA has been frustrated in repeated attempts to follow up on further evidence regarding the site.

Based on that report, the United States â€” backed by 12 allies â€” drew up a referral to bring Syria before the U.N. Security Council, insisting that that the reputation of the IAEA, set up by the U.N. to enforce the peaceful use of nuclear energy, was at stake.

"Syria’s nuclear intentions at Dair Alzour are clear; the reactor there was built for the express purpose of producing plutonium for possible use in nuclear weapons," Glyn Davis, the chief U.S. envoy to the IAEA, said.

He went on to accuse Syria of "choosing to actively hinder the investigation by denying access, providing incomplete and misleading information, sanitizing multiple locations, and refusing to respond substantively to the agency’s requests for further information and access."

The U.S. said the board consequently had no choice but to find Syria in violation of its safeguard agreements and report it to the U.N. Security Council. Diplomats say the referral appears poised to pass, but without support from Russia or China, nations that have the power to veto any measures in the Security Council.

The Russians have called the referral "untimely and not objective," in a statement to the IAEA board. They said the evidence against Syria was hypothetical and based on "possible alleged insufficiencies."

Amano has acknowledged that his report on Syria does not offer "absolute proof," but insists it is solid enough to justify taking action against Damascus.

In a separate report on Iran, Amano cited fresh information acquired by the agency that indicated a "possible military dimension" to Iran’s nuclear program.

Iranian Ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, called the report "not balanced and factual" and went on to insist that Amano was "not doing his job."

Iran announced Wednesday that it would triple its output of enriched uranium at a higher level than is needed for nuclear fuel â€” near 20 percent â€” by installing more efficient centrifuges.

Davis called that move "brazen" and told the board the agency’s admission that it knows ever less about Iran’s enrichment activities is "deeply troubling."

Together with China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom, the U.S. called on Tehran to "cooperate fully with the agency" and uphold its agreements.

Iran insists its nuclear program is purely civilian, yet steps such as the enrichment are moving it closer to a weapons capacity.

"We will not suspend any of our nuclear activities, including enrichment," Soltanieh said.

Tehran is already under four rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions over its refusal to halt enrichment. The IAEA did not recommend any fresh action at this week’s meeting.