West complains to IAEA chief over Iran atom remarks
By Mark Heinrich
VIENNA (Reuters) - U.S. and allied envoys met the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief on Friday to voice concern about remarks he made suggesting it was too late to get Iran to shut down its uranium enrichment program, diplomats said.
Iran has made advances towards creating a nuclear energy industry recently while big powers have stuck to a demand, which Tehran has repeatedly rejected as humiliating, that it suspend all enrichment-related activity to win talks on trade benefits.
International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei is increasingly concerned Iran's festering stand-off with the West could lead to conflict engulfing the Middle East.
He irked big powers by suggesting in recent interviews that their demand, mirrored in U.N. Security Council resolutions, for zero enrichment in Iran to prevent it gaining nuclear knowledge was obsolete since Tehran could already refine uranium.
ElBaradei called for a face-saving compromise that would cap Iranian enrichment activity at its current modest scale, before it reaches industrial proportions yielding large stockpiles of fuel convertible into material for atom bombs.
The point of the visit by U.S., British, French and Japanese ambassadors to the IAEA to ElBaradei's office was to stress that Security Council policy was law, adopted unanimously, and that they wanted his support, diplomats said.
"We made our concerns clear about the need for a complete suspension. We felt his published remarks were not helpful at this time," a British diplomat told Reuters.
U.S. mission spokesman Matt Boland said the four envoys and ElBaradei had a "good constructive meeting. They all agreed on the importance of Iran fully cooperating with the IAEA and complying with its international obligations."
One diplomat said the ambassadors asked ElBaradei to clarify his remarks. IAEA officials had no immediate comment.
DEFIANT IRAN EXPANDING ENRICHMENT
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