Iran Bars IAEA Inspectors
Iran has barred 38 International Atomic Enenergy Agency inspectors from entering Iran. A few were apparently allowed to proceed, but most were denied entry.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said some inspectors were admitted, but maintained that Iran could decide who should be turned away.
"The International Atomic Energy Agency submits a long list of inspectors to member countries and the countries have the right to oppose the visit by some inspectors," Mottaki told the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
The head of the parliamentary committee of national security and foreign policy, Alaeddin Borojerdi, had been quoted by a students' news agency as saying Iran had barred 38 inspectors.
Last month, the U.N. Security Council imposed limited trade sanctions on Iran because of its refusal to cease uranium enrichment, a process that produces the material for nuclear reactors or bombs. Days later, the country's parliament passed a motion that obliged the government to revise its cooperation with the IAEA, but gave it a free hand to determine the steps to be taken.
If Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is facing domestic unrest as several media outlets have suggested, that pressure is not changing Iran's nuclear stance to any perceptable degree. It is time to step up the international pressure.
By bob, Monday, 22 January , 2007 @ 2:22 pm
Here we go again!