U.S. sees limits, manipulation in Iran deal with IAEA

By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) - A nuclear cooperation pact Iran struck with the International Atomic Energy Agency has "real limitations" and Tehran should stop trying to manipulate the IAEA to dodge harsher U.N. sanctions, a senior U.S. envoy said.

Washington was not impressed by Iran's transparency promise -- hailed as a "milestone" by the IAEA on Tuesday -- to allay suspicions it is secretly seeking atomic bombs, and would still pursue talks on more U.N. sanctions against Tehran, the U.S. envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Gregory Schulte, said.

The IAEA declined comment on Schulte's criticism. A diplomat close to the Vienna-based agency said Schulte's remarks "shows a deliberate campaign to derail this process."

Schulte said Washington welcomed any progress in resolving troubling questions about Iran's nuclear activities.

"But we understand there are real limitations with the plan, including Iran's continued refusal to implement the IAEA's Additional Protocol," he told reporters by conference call.

He was citing a measure allowing inspectors to conduct spot checks at sites not declared to be nuclear but regarded as important to resolving four-year-old IAEA investigations into the nature and scope of Iran's atomic program.

The deal is meant to answer IAEA questions about indications of illicit military involvement in Iran's declared drive for peaceful nuclear energy and to improve access for U.N. inspectors to its underground uranium enrichment plant.

The IAEA's top negotiator said the plan had a timetable and steps to carry it out would start shortly. Neither side disclosed what precisely Iran would do and by when. Details should emerge in a report to the IAEA board by early next month.

Western diplomats believe Iran is making a display of cooperation to split key world powers over the need for stiffer sanctions -- Russia and China are reluctant -- and wants to buy time so it can master enrichment capability.

Schulte said Iran's suggestion it would not implement the transparency plan unless the U.N. Security Council shelved steps to intensify the mild sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic over its refusal to stop enrichment was unacceptable.

"If Iran's leaders truly want the world's trust, they would stop trying to manipulate the IAEA, start to cooperate fully and unconditionally and suspend activities of (world) concern.

"Iran is clearly trying to take attention from its continued development of bomb-making capability. I don't think the Security Council will be distracted (by this deal)," he said.

U.S.-IAEA TENSIONS

The diplomat close to the IAEA told Reuters that Schulte's comments were "very unhelpful" ... Such immediate downplaying of this development is disingenuous."

"To expect Iran now to comply on the whole package of demands by the Security Council, all at once, when they remain under sanctions, is unrealistic," the diplomat said.