U.S. and Europe Differ on Iran Strategy

[jayfish]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040914/ap_on_re_mi_ea/nuclear_agency

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VIENNA, Austria - A U.S.-European rift surfaced Tuesday over how harshly to deal with Iran and its suspect nuclear program, with the Europeans ignoring American suggestions and circulating their own recommendations to other delegates at a key meeting of the U.N. atomic agency.

Diplomats at a board of governors meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency had suggested earlier that the United States and the European Union (news - web sites) were making progress in drafting common language for a resolution that would set a deadline for Iran to meet demands designed to dispel fears it was trying to make nuclear arms.

But the latest draft, obtained by The Associated Press and being circulated informally Tuesday for reaction from other delegations, was nearly exactly the one that France, Britain and Germany came up with Friday — a text that U.S. officials had said would be unacceptable.

The American suggestions also were made available to the AP. They demand Iran grant agency inspectors "complete, immediate and unrestricted access;" provide "full information" about past illegal nuclear activities; suspend "immediately and fully" uranium enrichment and related activities; and meet all agency demands to "resolve all outstanding issues" nurturing suspicions of a possible weapons program.

The IAEA meeting has become the main battleground between Iran and Washington, which wants to take Iran before the U.N. Security Council for alleged violations of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The Americans asked the draft include an Oct. 31 deadline. The EU text remained vaguer in demands and in a time frame, asking only that IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei submit a comprehensive report before November for evaluation by the board.

ElBaradei shrugged off the idea of a deadline.

"We cannot just say there is a magic date," for an end to his agency's Iran probe, he said. He also repeated that his investigation has not definitely established whether Iran is trying to make nuclear arms — as Washington asserts.
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Oops, it doesn't look like the Europeans will let themselves get rolled on this one like they did in Iraq. Poor *, if you are going to start a war on this one it looks like you'll have to do it alone.

Jay

[MichiganVote]

1. Strategy? Sounds more like a trip to Baskin and Robbins