World Jewish News

Israel expresses concern as IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear programme reveals it’s ‘continuing to make rapid progress toward the r

Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu expressed concern over the latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into Iran’s nuclear development programme ahead of next week’s scheduled resumption in negotiations with the international community, as he warned his allies "Iran is closer than ever to achieving enriched material for a nuclear bomb."
After the IAEA last week revealed its observation team had noted “Iran had started the installation of IR-2m centrifuges” – its most advanced technology to date – enabling it to dramatically speed up the process of uranium enrichment, Netanyahu said mutual concerns over grave developments in Iran’s nuclear progress would top the list of subjects up for discussion with US President Barack Obama on his visit to Jerusalem next month.
The Israeli PM invoked his UN General Assembly caution of last September, concluding “Iran is continuing to make rapid progress toward the red line”, which would necessitate the West looking to military options to curb its threat to international security.
The so-called P5+1, or E3+3, consisting of the US, France, Germany, the UK, China and Russia are due to meet with Iranian negotiators in Kazakhstan to clarify the purpose of Iran’s nuclear development programme on February 26.
Meanwhile, at a U State Department daily press briefing in Washington, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland insisted the latest report did “not come as a surprise to us, given the IAEA reports on Iran’s development of advanced centrifuges”, conceding however that the latest evidence of nuclear development represented “a further escalation and a continuing violation of Iran’s obligations under the relevant Un Security Council resolutions and IAEA board resolutions”.
Deeming it “another provocative step”, as the US and the EU have continued to insist that the ball lays very much in Iran’s court on the issue of diplomacy, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s latest remarks Monday following her meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov concluded that “we hope that Iran will come to these negotiations with flexibility and that we can make substantial progress. We remain determined to work towards a solution of the Iranian nuclear issue and the key is for Iran to comply fully with its international obligations”.
Concurring, Nuland added that “there is another path here. There is the diplomatic path, and as you know, we have P-5+1 talks with the Iranians next week. They have an opportunity to come to those talks ready to be serious, ready to allay the international community’s concerns, and we hope they take that opportunity”.
British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt similarly issued a statement saying the latest findings of nuclear enrichment advancement were “of serious concern”. Noting the breach of the Islamist regime’s international obligations, he provided a rather more stark analysis ahead of next week’s talks, insisting that it “is another signal that Iran has no intention of providing the necessary reassurance to the international community that its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes”.
Continuing to describing the scheduling of its upgrade in nuclear development as “disappointing” as talks are imminent, he called on Iran to “come to talks in Almaty willing to negotiate meaningfully, and we urge Iran to respect all relevant resolutions and cooperate fully with the IAEA”.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius made no direct reference to the latest reports, as he looked ahead to next week’s talks expressing his hopes “that this meeting will discuss Iran in a constructive spirit, and (Iran will) be prepared to discuss in detail and with a renewed perspective, to clarify aspects of its nuclear program. We want a true exchange, leading to concrete results”.

EJP