US bullies IAEA into reporting Iran to the UN Security Council

[IndianaGreen]

US bullies IAEA into reporting Iran to the UN Security Council

By Peter Symonds
6 February 2006

In a decision that lays the basis for sanctions and future military action against Iran, the governing council of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) caved in to US pressure and voted on Saturday to report Tehran to the UN Security Council.

The Bush administration, which has been pushing since 2003 for Iran to be referred to the UN Security Council for punitive action over its nuclear programs, immediately applauded the vote. President Bush declared that the decision was “a clear message... that the world will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons.” Speaking in a similar vein in Germany, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld deliberately inflamed tensions, by branding Iran “the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.” “The world does not want, and must work together to prevent, a nuclear Iran,” he added.

To state the obvious, “the world” did not have any say in the matter. Tens of millions of people around the globe, who opposed and continue to oppose the illegal US-led occupation of Iraq, are no doubt looking on in apprehension as Washington once again seizes on unproven allegations concerning “weapons of mass destruction” to threaten economic sanctions and possibly military action against Iran.

The key decision was not taken at the IAEA meeting in Vienna on Saturday but rather at a gathering a week ago in London of the five permanent UN Security Council members—the US, Britain, France, Russia and China—plus Germany. At that meeting, all agreed to support a resolution to “report” Iran to the UN Security if it failed to suspend all uranium enrichment activities and fully cooperate with IAEA inspections.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/feb2006/iran-f06.shtml

[tatertop]

1. A concise explanation of what is happening behind the scenes