Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 3, 2010; 3:29 PM
UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations' top leadership used a high-level nuclear conference Monday to publicly scold Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his country's defiance of U.N. resolutions, while the United States and its European allies staged a walkout to protest Tehran's nuclear stance.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the chief U.N. nuclear arms watchdog, Yukiya Amano, blamed Ahmadinejad, who listened from the audience, for provoking the diplomatic standoff over Tehran's nuclear program.
The remarks by Ban constituted an extraordinary rebuke of a world leader in the U.N. General Assembly chamber and reflected mounting concern that Tehran's nuclear policy threatens to undermine the review conference of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"I call on Iran to comply fully with Security Council resolutions and cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency," Ban said at the opening of the nearly month-long conference. "Let us be clear: The onus is on Iran to clarify the doubts and concerns about its program."
Ban urged the Iranian leader to "engage constructively" in international talks aimed at resolving Iran's nuclear standoff with the U.N. Security Council. He said Tehran should accept a proposal by the IAEA to ship Iran's nuclear fuel abroad in exchange for a more purified form of uranium to power the country's medical research reactor. The plan is backed by the United States, Russia, China and other key powers.
In a rare breach in protocol, Ban left the General Assembly hall for another meeting shortly before Ahmadinejad -- the only head of state to address the nuclear conference -- delivered his speech. When Ahmadinejad took to the podium, he responded directly to Ban.
"The secretary general said that Iran must accept the fuel exchange and that the ball is now in Iran's court," Ahmadinejad said. "Well, I'd like to tell you and inform him as well that we'd accepted that from the start, and I'd like to announce once again that [it is] an accepted deal. Therefore, we have now thrown the ball in the court of those who should accept our proposal and embark on cooperation with us."
Iran has repeatedly said it is willing to discuss the fuel swap, only to reverse course. It has recently engaged in preliminary discussions with Turkey and Brazil on a plan to revive talks on the deal. But the United States and its European partners have expressed skepticism, saying that Iran's latest interest in talks is aimed at stalling a U.S.-backed initiative to impose a fourth round of U.N. sanctions on Tehran. Russia and China have cited Iran's refusal to accept such a deal in justifying their decision to pursue sanctions.
The Iranian leader used his speech to deliver a fiery attack on the United States, saying it introduced nuclear weapons to the world and is fueling the global nuclear arms race. He accused the United States and other nuclear states of manipulating the international arms control system, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, to preserve its nuclear privileges while pressuring non-nuclear states to give up their rights to produce their own nuclear fuel for energy purposes.
"Those who committed the first atomic bombardment are considered to be among the most hated individuals in human history," he said. "Regrettably, the government of the United States has not only used nuclear weapons, but it also continues to threaten to use such weapons against other countries, including Iran."
The IAEA's director general, Amano, made it clear that he is not satisfied with Iran's efforts to resolve the issue. In his address to the General Assembly, Amano echoed Ban's tough approach, criticizing what he described as Iran's lack of cooperation with the agency.
Even before the opening speeches, the conference was shaping up as a showdown between Iran and the United States, with each side jockeying for allies in the escalating dispute over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.
The New York conference is held every five years to review the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the 40-year-old pact aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear weapons. Technically, Iran is not on the agenda.
But the Obama administration sees the conference as a crucial opportunity to advance ideas to strengthen the fraying treaty, such as punishing nuclear cheaters and further regulating the supply of nuclear fuel.
Iran is expected to block such steps. Any decision by the conference must be reached by consensus.
"This meeting is all about Iran," said a White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivity. "Because Iran poses the biggest threat to the survival of the treaty."
The fireworks began with Ahmadinejad's midday speech and were expected to continue with an afternoon address by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Clinton said Sunday that Ahmadinejad would try to divert attention from his nuclear program at a moment when an American-led drive to impose new economic sanctions is picking up steam.
Iran denies that it is building a bomb. But the IAEA censured Iran last year for secretly constructing a nuclear facility and defying U.N. resolutions on uranium enrichment.
Addressing the conference Monday, Amano said the agency remains unable to confirm that all of Iran's nuclear material is being used for peaceful purposes "because Iran has not provided the necessary cooperation." He called on Iran to obey U.N. Security Council resolutions "and clarify activities with a possible military dimension."
Ahmadinejad laughed as he listened to a translation of Amano's remarks.
He later told the gathering, "The sole purpose of nuclear weapons is to annihilate all living beings and to destroy the environment. The nuclear bomb is a fire against humanity rather than a weapon for defense. . . . The possession of nuclear bombs is not a source of pride; their possession is disgusting and harmful."
He added that Iran is not a nation "that needs nuclear bombs for its development and does not regard them as a source of its honor and dignity."
Ahmadinejad also described the issue of nuclear terrorism as "misleading" and "phony," charging that the Obama administration was using it to divert the world's attention from U.S. "noncompliance" with disarmament obligations. He claimed that "major terrorist networks" are supported by "U.S. intelligence agencies" and Israel, but he provided no details or evidence.
Ahmadinejad dismissed the Obama administration's "Nuclear Posture Review" issued last month, heaping scorn on U.S. pledges not to develop new nuclear weapons and not to use existing nuclear arms to attack non-nuclear states that comply with the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"The United States has never respected any of its commitments," Ahmadinejad charged. "What guarantees are there that it would live up to its commitments?"
In his 35-minute speech, Ahmadinejad called for the suspension of the United States from the IAEA Board of Governors on grounds that it dropped atomic bombs on Japan in World War II and used depleted-uranium shells in the Iraq war. In addition, he demanded "reform" of the 15-member U.N. Security Council, saying its structure was "extremely unfair and inefficient and mainly serves the interests of the nuclear weapons states."
Interviewed Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Clinton said, "We're not going to permit Iran to try to change the story from their failure to comply" with Security Council resolutions demanding suspension of Iran's uranium-enrichment activities.
Many analysts see the month-long New York meeting as a major test of Obama's nuclear strategy, which seeks to establish U.S. leadership on arms control to press others to live up to their obligations. Obama recently signed a new arms-reduction treaty with Russia and held a summit on nuclear terrorism.
The 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty established the essential bargain that governed the role of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. The five original nuclear powers -- the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain -- were allowed to keep their nuclear weapons, as long as they agreed to take steps toward the ultimate elimination of those weapons. The non-nuclear states agreed to forswear nuclear weapons but were granted the right to develop peaceful nuclear energy programs, subject to U.N. monitoring.
While the treaty has succeeded in stemming the spread of nuclear weapons, states such as Israel, Pakistan and India have developed nuclear weapons programs outside the treaty. North Korea, which withdrew from the treaty in 2003, secretly developed a nuclear weapons program under the nose of nuclear inspectors.
Branigin reported from Washington.
