Iaea

Vienna -- The International Atomic Energy Agency, guardian of the world's nuclear fortunes, inhabits the dreariest building in the whole of Vienna, a modern, gross, intimidating mass of steel and gray concrete. If it were inverted and sunk in a deep hole, it might be the one sure defense against a North Korean nuclear bomb.No other protection seems on offer. Despite its best efforts to uphold the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty -- of which North Korea is still a signatory -- the IAEA was neither able to anticipate North Korea's secret ambition to build nuclear weapons nor to do much when its limited inspections more or less confirmed that Kim Il Sung probably had them.

WASHINGTON -- Iran is headed toward a showdown with the West over its nuclear ambitions. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voted recently to report Tehran to the U.N. Security Council for violations of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The IAEA didn't set a timetable for reporting Iran in the hope that Iran would abandon its plans before the Security Council is forced to take action. Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claims that his country isn't pursuing nuclear weapons - indeed, that it doesn't need them.

WASHINGTON - The U.N. inspectors in Iraq have begun their investigation of various Iraqi factories and military sites. Pay no attention. They will find nothing. The key to this whole inspection gambit - indeed, the key to whether we end up in a war with Iraq - will come down not to where the inspectors look inside Iraq, but to whom they decide to interview outside Iraq, and whether that person has the courage to talk. The fate of Iraq will all come down to the least-noticed paragraph in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441: Point 5. The framers of this resolution had learned their lessons from previous Iraqi inspections.

WASHINGTON -- It is time for the United States to appreciate that it cannot afford to remain on the sidelines of negotiations over Iran's nuclear intentions and subcontract the talks to its European allies. Washington should take a leaf from its North Korea playbook instead of relying on Russian offers to Iran, European diplomacy and cumbersome International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) procedures. A new framework of negotiations featuring the United States, the European Union's Britain, France and Germany, plus Russia and China, combined with a generous offer of security and economic incentives, may be the only way to reverse Iran's nuclear trajectory at this late date.

WASHINGTON - After much consideration, the Bush administration has finally opted for a strategy to deal with Iran's nuclear aspirations. As with its predecessor, the Bush team seems to hope that prodding Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into pressuring Iran can obstruct Tehran's proliferation tendencies. While this approach had merit in the 1990s, it's unlikely to work today. On the surface, Washington's recent diplomatic maneuvers may seem promising. An IAEA report notes that Iran has failed to abide by its treaty obligations in not accounting for the uranium that it obtained from China in 1991.

WASHINGTON -- The United States, warning that the Korean nuclear standoff has become "urgent," will demand again at a meeting in New York today that North Korea permit full inspection of its declared nuclear sites and resume talks with the South, a senior U.S. official said last night."

VIENNA, Austria - The United Nations nuclear watchdog is set to strongly rebuke Iran for failing to fully disclose information on its disputed nuclear program, despite 11th-hour Iranian efforts to tone down the resolution. The resolution, which was formally submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency's governing board late yesterday and expected to be passed today, "deplores" that "Iran's cooperation has not been as full, timely and proactive as it should have been." It also calls on the Iranian government "on an urgent basis to help resolve all outstanding questions" about its nuclear intentions, but stops short of imposing a deadline.

WASHINGTON - Alarmed that Iran may be getting closer to producing nuclear weapons, the Bush administration hopes to mobilize international pressure this week by spotlighting fresh concerns by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency. But a U.S. official acknowledged yesterday that the United States is limited to trying to exploit Iran's fear of being viewed as an international outlaw. Hopes of getting the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions against Iran appear doomed for the foreseeable future by the prospect of vetoes by Russia and China, said a U.S. official involved in efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear arms.

WASHINGTON - The United States offered a small olive branch to North Korea yesterday, saying it is willing to talk to Pyongyang but will not make new concessions to prod the North to give up its nuclear weapons programs. The U.S. offer of talks - which officials pointedly refused to describe as "negotiations" - came after a three-way meeting here between the United States, South Korea and Japan to coordinate their stance on the rapidly escalating crisis on the Korean peninsula. The three allies issued a toughly worded statement backing the Bush administration's position that North Korea must take "prompt and verifiable action to completely dismantle its nuclear weapons program."

U.N. envoy urges Israel to relax restrictions JERUSALEM -- Israel must provide more freedom of movement in the West Bank and open crossings into Gaza to avoid driving more Palestinians into poverty, the United Nations Mideast envoy said yesterday. Israel's decision to shut Gaza's borders to all but humanitarian aid in the wake of Hamas' takeover of the coastal strip two months ago is threatening a badly damaged economy, and "this shows every sign of getting worse," Michael Williams said.