By Liu Gang
VIENNA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) - The Board of Governors Meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held in Vienna passed a resolution on the Iran nuclear issue on Friday, the first such resolution against Iran by the IAEA since February 2006.
The resolution proposed by Germany demanded Iran open all its nuclear programs to public and answer questions on all outstanding issues including the nuclear facilities in Qom. It also called for an immediate halt to nuclear facilities conduction in Qom.
It also required Iran to fully cooperate with IAEA and take the obligation that it will approve or conduct any nuclear program without notification to IAEA.
On September 21 this year, Iran sent a letter to the IAEA, admitting it was building an uranium enrichment facilities near the city of Qom. It is the second nuclear facility publicly acknowledged by Iran after the first one at Natanz.
According to the Western countries, the nuclear facility began to be built seven years ago but it was not until September that Iran was forced to notify the IAEA after leakage of information.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said the meeting that the Qom facilities is still under construction. The facility could contain up to 3,000 centrifuges to produce enriched uranium. Iran intended to put it into use in 2011.
ElBaradei criticized Iran for failing to notify the IAEA timely, saying that Iran's action has violated the terms of nuclear safeguards and damaged its credibility.
Western countries like the United States, Britain and France have questioned Iran's intention in building uranium enrichment facilities for some time. Some senior diplomats even said that the size of the uranium enrichment facility in Qom is more suitable for producing high-enriched uranium needed for nuclear weapons.
Iran's failure to make a positive response to ElBaradei's proposal aroused more suspicions. The proposal asked Iran to ship its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for enrichment.
Iran insisted that its uranium enrichment is only for peaceful use and that it has the right to own uranium enrichment technologies.
However, some countries suspect that Iranian uranium enrichment technology would be used to produce weapons-grade nuclear fuel and therefore require Iran to stop its uranium enrichment activities.
In order to break the deadlock, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei suggested that Iran ship its majority LEU to foreign countries for processing into highly enriched uranium, which will be shipped back to Iran as the nuclear fuel of its research reactors.
Iran initially responded to ElBaradei's proposal positively and the international community once believed that this might be an opportunity to resolve the longstanding disputes over the Iranian nuclear issue.
On October 28, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also called on Iran to accept the compromise, pointing out it would be "an important confidence-building measure."
However, Iran's attitude to this proposal changed gradually. After unsuccessful negotiations with the United States, Russia and France in Vienna in October, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced that Iran would not transport its existing LEU abroad for processing.
This announcement resulted in wide criticism, particularly from Western countries.
The U.K. Ambassador to IAEA, Simon Smith said on November 25 that he felt disappointed with Iran's attitude, which he said would lead to "a greater suspicion" of the purpose of Iran's nuclear program among the international community.
On the same day, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said as one of six parties to talks on Iran's nuclear issue, German's patience "has its limit." He threatened further sanctions against Iran.
The adoption of the resolution against Iran by the IAEA Board of Governors meeting with more than two-thirds majority votes indicated serious concerns of the international community over the Iran nuclear issues.
