Vienna, Saturday, February 4, 2006- The International
AtomicEnergy Agency's decision to report Iran to the UN
SecurityCouncil will seriously increase the risk of escalating
tensions in theregion, Greenpeace said today.
"Reporting Iran to the UN Security Council has created a
vacuum of confidence building, a situation that IAEAhead ElBaradei
said he was intent on avoiding," said Greenpeacenuclear analyst
William Peden, speaking from IAEA headquarters inVienna. "Board
members supporting the EU-3 draft resolution have effectively shot
themselves in the foot. The Iran crisis has beenbrought closer to
the brink."
"There will be no winners in this dispute. Iran has made
itquite clear that they will now severely restrict inspections and
nolonger comply with requests to reveal information above and
beyond whatis legally required under existing treaty obligations.
Alldiplomatic initiatives will also be dead in the water,
escalatingfurther tensions on all sides. It is clear that the
heightened mistruston both sides will make resolution of this
crisis all the moredifficult."
"The real solution to this crisis is a true and meaningful
NuclearFree Zone in the Middle East, not one which is paid lip
service to,"said Peden. "It is a vital first step towards removing
all nuclearproliferation risks in the region, as well as providing
the essentialsecurity guarantees from nuclear weapons states
outside the region. Ifwe don't seriously contemplate this option
then the world will, as UNSecretary General Kofi Annan pointed out
a few days ago, lurch fromnuclear crisis to nuclear crisis," Peden
concluded.
Greenpeace is opposed to any nation acquiring nuclear technology
andnuclear weapons, It believes that the current crisis is borne
out ofthe clear contradiction in the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty thatobliges signatories to achieve a world free of nuclear
weapons whilstat the same time encouraging their access to nuclear
technology thatcan be diverted to produce those weapons.
Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation that
usesnon-violent creative confrontation to expose global
environmentalproblems to force solutions that are essential to a
green and peacefulfuture.
Media Enquiries:
Michael Kessler, Greenpeace International Media Officer +34 660
637 053
(in Vienna) William Peden, Greenpeace International Nuclear
Analyst +31 653 504 731
Nicky Davies, Greenpeace International, Disarmament campaigner
+31 646 197 330