"Iran makes North Korea look easy," the LA Times cites western negotiators:

...In Vienna, Iranian and Western diplomats shuttled from room to room, making their case to members of the IAEA board who were still uncommitted.

The European Union, backed by the United States, has circulated a five-page resolution that would send Iran's case to the Security Council because of its past failure to disclose its nuclear program, and its refusal to answer key questions from the nuclear agency...

Amid the diplomatic jostling, there was a sense that events were moving toward a decisive moment when the U.S. and its allies would succeed in reining in Iran's nuclear ambitions or Iran would declare that it was refusing to cooperate any further with the atomic agency...

For U.S. officials and their allies, Iran's oil, the lure of its hard currency to pay for development projects and Tehran's diplomatic skills make the nation a far more formidable diplomatic adversary than North Korea.

Commercial considerations are believed to have played some role in positions taken by Russia and China on Iran. Both countries worked closely with the United States on this week's agreement with North Korea, but by late Wednesday remained opposed to U.S. efforts on Iran...

The AP reports that the EU delays referring Iran to the Security Council:

Iran gained a reprieve in the standoff over its nuclear program Wednesday, with diplomats saying the European Union had decided to postpone its push to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council.

The decision to delay a vote until a later board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency instead of demanding one this week appeared driven by concerns about strong opposition. More than a dozen of the 35 IAEA board member nations meeting in Vienna -- including Security Council members Russia and China -- are against the idea.

Although a new EU draft motion doesn't mention Security Council sanctions, it still calls for reporting Iran to the council if it continues defying board demands, which include freezing activities related to uranium enrichment, said senior diplomats accredited to the IAEA.

The text is expected to be introduced at this week's IAEA meeting, but any vote on referral would come only at a future session -- at the earliest when the board meets again in November, said the diplomats, who demanded anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss EU strategy at the meeting...

Posted by Laura at September 22, 2005 08:52 AM