PREVIEW: First IAEA meeting on Iran during Obama administration

By Albert Otti Feb 27, 2009, 3:08 GMT

Vienna - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is set to discuss Iran's nuclear programme in its spring meeting from Monday, but diplomats expect to make little headway as the new US administration is still reviewing its foreign policies.

The first Vienna gathering of the 35 countries on the IAEA's board of governors since Barack Obama became US president will also take up indications pointing to a secret Syrian nuclear reactor, as well as the issue of who succeeds Director General Mohamed ElBaradei.

Last week, ElBaradei issued a report showing Iran was not clearing up allegations about past nuclear weapons-related research and is continuing uranium enrichment, despite United Nations Security Council sanctions.

'There remain a number or outstanding issues which give rise to concern,' ElBaradei wrote in the report.

However, the IAEA board is unlikely to take action against Iran or Syria, such as issuing resolutions, several diplomats in Vienna said, as the new administration in Washington is still in the process of formulating its foreign policies.

Obama has said that while he would not accept a nuclear-armed Iran, he was willing to open a direct dialogue. There are also indications that Washington could upgrade its relations with Syria.

Diplomats said that they were less concerned that Iran has now theoretically enriched enough uranium for processing it in a number of steps into a nuclear weapon - a scenario that Tehran's leaders have dismissed.

Rather, the envoys criticized Iran for not granting IAEA inspectors access to documents, officials and installations to determine the nature of the country's nuclear intentions.

However, a Western European diplomat said Iran's current stock of nuclear material could have an effect of psychological deterrence. 'That's probably what they always wanted,' said the diplomat, who did not want to be identified.

Regarding Syria, the IAEA board is not expected at this point to mandate special inspections to determine whether a site bombed by Israel in 2007 was in fact a nuclear reactor.

After finding man-made uranium at the location and based on satellite imagery, the IAEA has said that it needed more information, but that the al-Kibar site's characteristics were consistent with that of a reactor.

However, the head of Syria's small civilian nuclear programme, Ibrahim Othman, on Tuesday disputed the IAEA's scientific finding that the uranium was not part of the Israeli munitions. Syria maintains that al-Kibar was a conventional military site.

At its meeting, the nuclear agency's board is also set to move towards electing the successor to ElBaradei, who retires in November.

Japan's ambassador to the IAEA Yukiya Amano is leading the race, ahead of the second candidate, senior South African diplomat Abdul Samad Minty.

According to several diplomats, the IAEA board is likely to meet again from March 26 for a vote.

However, is not yet certain whether Amano can muster a two-thirds majority in the board, which might make it necessary to open the race for further candidates.