EU turns up the heat on Iran

Tuesday, 30 September 2003 5:58 AM

European Union foreign ministers on Monday offered Iran a simple choice: fully abide with its obligations to the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), or face economic and political sanctions.

The IAEA has set a deadline of October 31 for Tehran to disclose full details of its enrichment uranium programme.

Iran, pre-war Iraq and North Korea sit on US President Bush's "axis of evil."

Iran insists the nuclear programme is for domestic energy generation, but the US and EU believe Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons.

The EU wants Iran to remove obstacles allowing unfettered access to its facilities and to embrace the additional protocol on the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

15 EU foreign ministers said Iran must "sign, ratify and implement the additional protocol without delay as a first and essential step to restore international trust in the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme."

Minister for Europe Denis MacShane said: "We want Iran to state unequivocally that there are no nuclear weapons possibilities that could be developed as a result of any nuclear program in Iran."

Iran was called upon to "refrain from fuel cycle activities which can also be used to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons."

Iranian officials in Tehran yesterday admitted significant traces of weapons-grade uranium in environmental samples had been found at a second site, south of Tehran, by international inspectors.

But the officials insisted the uranium traces came from machinery imported from abroad.

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