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UN report to show little progress in resolving Iran nuclear issue - diplomats A pivotal UN report on Iran next week is expected to show little evidence that Tehran is cooperating to defuse a crisis over a nuclear program the West fears hides weapons development, diplomats said Friday. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, is to file the report to the UN Security Council in New York ahead of an April 28 deadline set for the body for Iran to halt uranium enrichment that could be weapons-related and to cooperate fully with IAEA inspectors. The IAEA's most senior inspector below ElBaradei, director of safeguards Olli Heinonen, had Thursday put off a trip to Iran in what diplomats said was a clear sign that Tehran is failing to give the IAEA the information and a suspension of uranium enrichment which it demands. Enrichment can make either nuclear reactor fuel or atom bomb material, but Iran insists its program is a peaceful effort to generate electricity. "There is no expectation that the ElBaradei report will be able to give Iran any credit for implementing the UN Security Council presidential statement or IAEA board of govvernors resolutions," said a Western diplomat, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. The Council had called in a statement on March 29 for Iran to within 30 days honor IAEA resolutions for Tehran to halt enrichment and to cooperate with the IAEA's over-three-year-old investigation of its nuclear program. A senior European diplomat said: "I think relations (between Iran and the IAEA) have soured, that is definitely the case, and that will have repercussions on the report." Iran's ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh said in Moscow Friday that that Tehran was ready for "full" cooperation with the agency. But the Western diplomat said that "although the Iranians promised ElBaradei in Tehran last week (when he visited) that they would shortly be providing more cooperation on unresolved issues, the IAEA has received nothing and as a result there was no reason for Heinonen to travel there." US President George W. Bush on Thursday called for tough action against Iran, including a possible Security Council resolution that could allow for action ranging from economic sanctions to military strikes. But Russia, which has a veto on the Council, on Friday ruled out any discussion of sanctions until it had proof supporting US allegations that Tehran was hiding a nuclear arms program. Moscow also said it was "categorically" opposed to the use of force to keep Iran's nuclear program in check. US officials have said however that there is strong support on the Security Council for a resolution invoking the UN charter's Chapter 7, which would make Iranian compliance a legal obligation and open the door to sanctions or even military action. The Western diplomat said the matter would be discussed by EU nuclear negotiators Britain, Germany and France, plus the United States, Russia and China on May 3 at a meeting in Europe of the six nations' foreign ministry political directors. The diplomat did not say exactly where this would be. The European diplomat said that "in the wake of this report (from ElBaradei) we will have to meet to discuss consequences and how to proceed." The IAEA is seeking for its investigation documents on dealings Iran had with a nuclear black market network run by disgraced Pakistani Abdul Qadeer Kahn, the father of his country's atomic bomb. ---------------------------------------------------
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