27 August 2009, 11:26 PM

Developing nations at the UN nuclear watchdog are backing Iran’s push to debate a ban on military attacks targeting nuclear facilities at a meeting of the IAEA next month.

Israel, which along with Western powers fears Iran’s declared civilian nuclear energy programme is a front for bombmaking, has not ruled out military action to prevent Tehran acquiring atom bombs and threatening the Jewish state.

In a letter to International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt said Iran had the backing of the 118 nations in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) for the topic to be discussed at the September meeting.

The Iranian proposal would require a simple majority for passage at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s annual General Conference.

Iran is a member of NAM, a bloc which emphasises Iran’s right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to develop a civilian atomic programme.

Iran says it is enriching uranium only for electricity and has refused to halt the programme or lift all restrictions on IAEA inspections despite three rounds of U.N. sanctions.

IAEA member states have passed several resolutions, the latest in 1990 and also proposed by Iran, which ban “any armed attack on and threat against (peaceful) nuclear facilities”.
But Iran says a legally-binding resolution is now needed because Israel had broken such bans in the past.

Sanctions In 1981, an Israeli air strike destroyed Iraq’s only nuclear reactor. Two years ago, Israel bombed a site in Syria that U.S. intelligence officials said was a North Korean-designed nuclear reactor under construction. Syria denies this.

Western diplomats said Iran’s initiative grew from a wish to turn the spotlight away from its nuclear activities, rather than real concern about safety and security of nuclear sites.
“Unfortunately the main business of the General Conference will be overshadowed by these issues,” a Western diplomat said.

A senior NAM diplomat said the proposal was well-intentioned in principle. “But of course the fact Iran proposed it stirs suspicions. It would have been different if Egypt or a Western country had done so,” the diplomat said. “The Western group of course will try to block this initiative.”

The IAEA is set to report later this week that the Islamic Republic has slowed the expansion of its uranium enrichment programme and is cooperating more with the agency ahead of talks by major powers on a possible fourth round of sanctions.

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