U.N. Nuclear Chief Pulled Inspector at Iran's Request
But it is HERE as well BY ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun July 10, 2006 URL:The Nobel Peace Prize-winning chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency effectively fired his lead Iran investigator this spring at the request of the Iranians, according to a new report in the German newspaper Die Welt am Sonntag.
The lead inspector of the 15-man IAEA team in Iran, Chris Charlier, told the newspaper that the IAEA chief, Mohammad ElBaradei, agreed to a request the Iranian government made, and relegated Mr. Charlier, a 64-year-old Belgian, to office work at the organization's Vienna-based headquarters. The Iranian request was reportedly made when Mr. ElBaradei visited Iran in April.
The news could have explosive consequences for America's policy of entrusting Mr. ElBaradei to negotiate an end to Iran's uranium enrichment. In 2004, after intelligence reports found him coaching the Iranians on the intricacies of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, the State Department launched a campaign to prevent Mr. ElBaradei, an Egyptian, from running for an unprecedented third term as IAEA secretary-general. That campaign failed after other countries expressed their support for him.
The five permanent members of the U.N.Security Council have offered Iran a series of incentives if it agrees to halt uranium enrichment and re-enter the negotiations it began with Britain, France, and Germany in 2003. At the end of May, President Bush reversed his long-standing policy of leaving this nuclear diplomacy to Europe and had the State Department offer to join discussions with Iran directly. So far Tehran has yet to respond officially, though its officials have publicly disparaged the offer.
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