Amid a chorus of criticism from the United States and its allies over Iran's nuclear program, Tehran is trying to make its case to the U.N. atomic watchdog that it is not seeking nuclear weapons, arguing that it's being tried on evidence that it's not allowed to see.
Iran's delegation is sitting in on this week's meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member board, while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attends the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York, insisting that his country has the support of most of the world in the confrontation over its nuclear ambitions.
The U.S. on Thursday urged Iran to come clean about its program, saying it should follow the example of Libya, whose ties to the West have warmed dramatically since it gave up a clandestine nuclear weapons program in 2003.
"Libya provides an example for Iran and Syria of how a country can rebuild confidence after serious noncompliance" with the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the US envoy to the IAEA, Gregory L. Schulte, told The Associated Press Thursday.
"We hope Iran and Syria will follow Libya's example," he said.
The United States has accused both Iran and Syria of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge the two Middle Eastern countries have denied.
Two aspects of Iran's nuclear defiance have caused particular international concern. Tehran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment _ a potential pathway to nuclear arms _ has led to three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions. And its decision not to answer IAEA questions about allegations that it studied ways to make nuclear arms has compounded the concern about its enrichment program.
The alleged secret Iranian nuclear weapons study, also known as the Green Salt Project, was initially brought to light by reports of a laptop computer supposedly smuggled out of Iran and handed over to the CIA. U.S. intelligence alleges that it indicates Iran was studying diverse components of a nuclear weapons program, including uranium enrichment, high explosives testing and a missile re-entry vehicle.
But Washington has refused to hand over the original documents to the IAEA and only presented a copy to the agency, arguing that presenting the originals could help Iran in any attempt for weapons. The IAEA chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, expressed regret in a report earlier this month that his agency was not in a position to provide Iran with copies of the documentation.
U.S. reluctance to hand over the documents gives Iran a platform to argue its case.
"How can one make allegations against a country without provision of original documents ... and ask the country concerned to prove its innocence or request the country to provide substantial explanations?" Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's chief IAEA representative asked reporters.
Soltanieh said Iran has not conducted any such activities.
"If the U.S. is right that the alleged studies documents originated from Iran, then what's wrong with giving Iran those documents?" Soltanieh said. "The U.S. refusal to provide these documents is yet another evidence that they are forged."
The European Union warned Wednesday at the IAEA meeting that Iran is nearing the ability to arm a nuclear warhead even if it insists its atomic activities are peaceful.
Iran denies ever having a clandestine weapons program, and it says it has the right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to pursue uranium enrichment to produce fuel for nuclear reactors.
In a statement distributed to reporters in Vienna Wednesday, the U.S. again faulted Iran for blocking the U.N. probe.
"Some have described the current situation as gridlock. It is in fact roadblock, a whole series of them erected by Iran," the statement said.
Despite the criticism, Iran enjoys for the moment at least a degree of shelter from further U.N. sanctions aimed at forcing it to suspend enrichment. Russia, angry at Washington over the crisis in Georgia, scuttled high-level talks on imposing new sanctions on Iran that had been set for Thursday between the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany.
