VIENNA – Iran and Syria found themselves in the spotlight on Monday as the UN nuclear watchdog convened for its traditional week-long spring meeting. The International Atomic Energy Agengy’s 35-member board of governors was set to discuss two new reports showing little or no progress in the watchdog’s long-running investigations into Iran’s controversial atomic programme and allegations of illicit nuclear activity on the part of Syria.
In his opening address to the closed-door session, IAEA director general Yukiya Amano complained that Iran was “not providing the necessary cooperation” and that Syria “has not cooperated with the agency since June 2008.” Just 10 days ago, Amano circulated to member states updated reports which said that inspectors had received “new information” about possible military dimensions to Tehran’s programme, but made scant progress in their probe against Damascus.
In the run-up to this week’s meeting, diplomats had suggested that some member states might seek to table resolutions against both Iran and Syria, as a way of turning up the pressure on the two governments. But with world attention currently focussed on unrest in the Arab world, and western countries undecided about how much pressure to apply, diplomats said any possible action against Tehran and Syria would now probably be set back until the next board meeting in June.
