U.N. Readies Rare Rebuke for Tehran

WASHINGTON — The United Nations's nuclear watchdog will rebuke Iran today in a report recommending that nearly half of the technical cooperation projects the agency conducts with the Islamic Republic be suspended.

Today's report from the International Atomic Energy Agency coincides with the deadline the U.N. Security Council imposed in its December 23 unanimous resolution demanding that Iran end its enrichment of uranium.

That demand has gone unheeded; indeed, President Ahmadinejad told a crowd in northern Iran yesterday that the U.N. resolution and the conditions America has set for any negotiations with Tehran are unreasonable. He then asked Western powers to end their nuclear activities.

Iran launched three days of military exercises this week, and earlier this month, during celebrations to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, the Iranian regime announced the installation of a new set of centrifuges in its facility in Natanz.

In Washington, the posturing from Iran and the pending deadline today prompted a tightening of screws on Tehran. The Treasury Department announced that it was placing a construction company affiliated with an Iranian proxy, Hezbollah, on its list of entities banned from American financial markets. This new kind of sanction also punishes banks and other firms that do business with the Lebanese militia and political party.

At Foggy Bottom, the deputy State Department spokesman, Tom Casey, said American diplomats were looking into a second U.N. Security Council resolution against Iran.

"We're certainly considering an additional resolution in the Security Council depending on what we see in that report, and depending on how we view the next steps in this process," he said. "Certainly we want to make sure that Iran understands, that the government of Iran understands, that they're going to continue to pay an increasing price for their defiance of the international community."

Perhaps the greatest price Iran will pay, however, will be in international stature and technical cooperation from the International Atomic Energy. Iran's legislature, known as the Majlis, released a study in September saying international sanctions and censure caused grave harm to the country's economy. Also, the increasingly unpopular regime loses more legitimacy in Qom and Tehran when it is seen to be in defiance of the United Nations.

The director general of the IAEA, Mohammed ElBaradei, told the Financial Times this week: "I will continue to make a last-ditch effort to try to convince them that it is in their interest to find a way to go into negotiations. ... If that doesn't happen, and I don't see that it is going to happen overnight, I will have to report negatively." Last night, Mr. ElBaradei met with the Iranian nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani.

Specifically, Mr. ElBaradei's report will recommend that almost half of the technical cooperation projects between the IAEA and Iran be suspended.

Another technical and confidential report on the IAEA's cooperation with Iran, submitted February 9 to the agency's board of governors, lays out Mr. ElBaradei's review of the program. This second report will be included in the agency's official report today.

The confidential report, which was first made available to the public last week by a Web log known as Vital Perspectives and confirmed yesterday to The New York Sun by a Western diplomat, says, "No technical cooperation may be provided to Iran that relates to the proliferation of sensitive nuclear activities specified in the resolution."

Those sensitive nuclear activities, according to the confidential report's annex, include projects aimed at strategic planning for nuclear power generation and a project to create a nuclear technology center in Iran.

At the same time, nuclear research and engineering for medical and agricultural projects will continue, according to the annex. A number of programs will be delayed and reviewed further.

The director of regional strategic programs at the Nixon Center, Geoffrey Kemp, said yesterday that he does not think America will win its fight for an additional U.N. Security Council resolution. Mr. Kemp did say, however, that he thinks the pressure from America will continue as it enlists more European and Japanese support for financial isolation and sanctions.

"I think the report will enhance our determination to go to the Japanese and the Europeans to do more," he said. "I think they will say there is a lot of evidence that the Iranians are worried about sanctions and are hurting from sanctions, and if you do what we've been doing for the last 10 years, then this will affect their program."