German Official Says World Must Prevent Scuzzy Muzzy Iran From Building Nuke Weapons

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German Minister Says World Must Prevent Iran From Building Nuke Weapons

Thursday, January 17, 2008

VIENNA, Austria - Germany's foreign minister on Thursday said the

international community remains determined to prevent Iran from developing

technology for nuclear weapons despite U.S. assessments that it has stopped

working on an arms program.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke before a briefing by Mohamed

ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on

ElBaradei's recent meeting with top Iranian leaders on the nuclear standoff.

Germany and the five permanent Security Council members plan to meet Tuesday

in Berlin for talks that diplomats said will include attempts to iron out

differences on the language and timing of a third set of U.N. sanctions for

Tehran's refusal to freeze uranium enrichment and meet other council

demands.

"The conflict over Iran's nuclear program remains ... on the agenda" despite

last month's U.S. intelligence assessment that Tehran stopped active work on

a nuclear weapons program in 2003, he said. "The problem is not solved."

Urging Iran to "resurrect international confidence" in its nuclear

intentions, Steinmeier said the international community "cannot and will not

allow that technology for nuclear weapons be developed in this region."

He was alluding primarily to uranium enrichment, which Iran says it wants to

develop to be able to generate nuclear power, but which also can create the

fissile core of nuclear warheads. Iran refuses to mothball the program

despite two sets of U.N. sanctions.

Opposition from Russia and China to quick and harsh new sanctions has

increased in the wake of the U.S. intelligence estimate. But Steinmeier

papered over differences, saying the Berlin meeting will focus on making

sure that international unity over the need for Iran to heed Security

Council demands" will continue to be expressed in the future."

He said that he wanted ElBaradei's assessment of the talks in Tehran "so

that we have a substantial discussion" at the Berlin meeting.

The U.S. State Department said Wednesday Washington had no plans to change

its sanctions strategy in dealing with Iran.

"The whole strategy here is to use various kinds of diplomatic pressure at a

gradually increasing rate to try to get a different set of decisions out of

the Iranian leadership," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

Officials commenting on ElBaradei's trip to Tehran last week said Iran had

promised the U.N.'s chief nuclear inspector to answer all remaining

questions about its past nuclear work within four weeks, including secret

activities the U.S. suspects were linked to a weapons program.

The probe originally was slated to be completed in December, and the United

States and its allies have been chafing at the delay, say diplomats

accredited to the IAEA. But they are unlikely to object publicly if the

extension allows ElBaradei to reveal details of such secret programs.

In agreeing to the IAEA probe last year, Iran agreed to answer all lingering

questions about its past nuclear activities - including those it has evaded

since 2003, when nearly 20 years of Iranian clandestine atomic work were

revealed.

Diplomats have told The Associated Press that the IAEA probe is now using

evidence provided by the U.S. and its close allies to back its allegations.

One said Sunday that the IAEA recently shared some of the formerly

classified information with Iran, with Washington's permission, to aid with

the probe.

Among the material is data on a laptop computer reportedly smuggled out of

Iran. In 2005, U.S. intelligence said that information suggested that the

country had been working on details for nuclear weapons, including missile

trajectories and ideal altitudes for exploding warheads.

U.S. intelligence was also shared with the agency regarding the "Green Salt

Project" - a plan that the U.S. alleges links diverse components of a

nuclear weapons program, including uranium enrichment, high explosives

testing and a missile re-entry vehicle.

The IAEA is also interested in activities at a former research center at

Lavizan-Shian, which Iran razed before allowing agency inspectors access.

The center is believed to have been the repository of equipment bought by

the Iranian military that could be used in a nuclear weapons program.