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I I fi u Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basin Ôzeti Iran gets a mixed review on atom plans UN's un<strong>de</strong>rst<strong>and</strong>ing of Tehran's program is 'diminishing' By Elaine Sciolino <strong>and</strong> William J. Broad VIENNA: A new report said Thurs¬ day that Iran had ma<strong>de</strong> new but incom¬ plete disclosures about its past nuclear activities, missing a crucial <strong>de</strong>adline un<strong>de</strong>r an agreement with the Interna¬ tional Atomic Energy Agency. The United Nations agency's report also confirmed for the first time that Iran had crossed the major milestone of putting 3,000 centrifuges into opera¬ tion, a 10-fold increase from just a year ago. In theory, that means that Iran could produce enough uranium to make a nuclear weapon within a year to 18 months. But the report indicated that the centrifuges fast-spinning machines that enrich uranium at a vast facility in Natanz were operating well below their capacity, <strong>and</strong> the agency said that, so far, it had not discovered any evi¬ <strong>de</strong>nce that Iran was enriching to a level that would produce bomb-gra<strong>de</strong> fuel. The report conclu<strong>de</strong>d that Iran's "cooperation has been reactive rather than proactive," <strong>and</strong> it said that be¬ cause of other restrictions Iran has placed on inspectors, its un<strong>de</strong>rst<strong>and</strong>ing of the full scope of Iran's program is "diminishing." The Bush administration, which sus¬ pects Iran of having a secret nuclear weapons program, seized on the re¬ port's findings as evi<strong>de</strong>nce ofIran's <strong>de</strong>¬ termination to forge ahead with its nu¬ clear program in <strong>de</strong>fiance of the UN Security Council. Calling Iran's cooperation with the agency "selective <strong>and</strong> incomplete," a statement from the United States Mis¬ sion to the agency said: "Iranstill refuses to fully disclose the past <strong>and</strong> present as the IAEA expects <strong>and</strong> to suspend fully its proliferation-sensitive activities as the Security Council requires." The British Foreign Office, mean¬ while, urged Tehran to "come clean on all outst<strong>and</strong>ing issues without <strong>de</strong>lay." The findings seem certain to be used by the United States, Britain <strong>and</strong> France to call for far harsher sanctions against Iran than those so far imposed in two Security Council resolutions, though Russia <strong>and</strong> China have strongly opposed another round of sanctions. The Iranian government has <strong>de</strong>nied that it is trying to manufacture a nucle¬ ar weapon. Iran's new chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, said that the report "means all the claims that Iran's nuclear activi¬ ties have a military agenda <strong>and</strong> are <strong>de</strong>¬ viant are not true" <strong>and</strong> that the basis for Security Council sanctions "has col¬ lapsed." Un<strong>de</strong>r the terms of a "work plan" conclu<strong>de</strong>d by Iran <strong>and</strong> the agency last summer, Iran was to have met a series of <strong>de</strong>adlines to resolve all unanswered questions about suspicious nuclear ac¬ tivities dating back two <strong>de</strong>ca<strong>de</strong>s. The agreed timeline set November as a date for Iran to answer all outst<strong>and</strong>ing agency questions about the history of its program to build centrifuges tall, thin machines that spin very fast to en¬ rich, or concentrate, uranium's rare component, uranium 235, which can fuel nuclear reactors or atom bombs. But the report Thursday, while out¬ lining a number of limited disclosures about the centrifuge program, noted that Iran has yet to answer some key questions. One mystery, the IAEA said, concerned "the role of the technical university at which uranium particle contamination was found." Another centers on anew generation of centrifuges that Ahmadinejad claimed last year that Iran had un<strong>de</strong>r <strong>de</strong>velopment. In a speech, he boasted that the P-2 centrifuge would quadruple Iran's powers of uranium enrichment. The IAEA report said that Iran di¬ vulged some information about the P-2 program on Nov. 8, adding that Tehran would discuss the issue with the agency in December. That means Iran missed a reporting <strong>de</strong>adline to clear up the issue, even while pursuing the far more sophisti¬ cated way ofmaking atomic fuel. Amer¬ ican officials <strong>and</strong> inspectors fear that the new generation of centrifuges could speed Iran's path to <strong>de</strong>veloping a nucle¬ ar weapon. In heralding the work plan last Au¬ gust, Mohamed ElBara<strong>de</strong>i, the IAEA's director general, said in an interview that there were "clear <strong>de</strong>adlines" that proved the plan was "not an openen<strong>de</strong>d invitation to dallying with the agency or a ruse to prolong negotiations <strong>and</strong> avoid sanctions." He ad<strong>de</strong>d that the goal was to wrap up the nuclear issues by December. The Iranian program has been un<strong>de</strong>r inves¬ tigation for four years. Now officials close to the agency are saying that the <strong>de</strong>adlines could slip into January or February. "Iran's active cooperation <strong>and</strong> full transparency are indispensable for full <strong>and</strong> prompt implementation of the work plan," the agency's report said. The report also faulted Iran for con¬ tinuing to <strong>de</strong>ny inspectors broad access to its nuclear facilities <strong>and</strong> manufactur- : ing sites un<strong>de</strong>r a voluntary protocol that Iran has suspen<strong>de</strong>d. The agency's limited access meant that it could not say with certainty that Iran did not have a secret weapons-related enrichment program. Bombings around Iraq fall sharply, U.S. reports By Stephen Farrell BAGHDAD: The American military on Thursday reported a sharp fall in the number of roadsi<strong>de</strong> bombs <strong>and</strong> other homema<strong>de</strong> bombs in Iraq, saying that Iran appeared to be abiding by a report¬ ed commitment to halt the flow of such weapons into Iraq. Major General James Simmons said 1,560 improvised explosive <strong>de</strong>vices had been directed at coalition forces <strong>and</strong> Iraqis in October, a steady monthly <strong>de</strong>¬ cline from 3,239 in March. Half of the bombs explo<strong>de</strong>d; the other half were found <strong>and</strong> cleared. "We have found weapons that we be¬ lieve are associated with Iran in some of the caches that we have picked up," said Simmons, <strong>de</strong>puty comm<strong>and</strong>ing general of the Multinational Corps-Iraq. "But most of these weapons appear to have been in Iraq for months, so we have not seen any recent evi<strong>de</strong>nce that weapons continue to come across the bor<strong>de</strong>r into Iraq. We believe that the initiatives <strong>and</strong> the commitments that the Iranians have ma<strong>de</strong> appear to be holding up." Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this month that Iran had assured the Baghdad government that it would stem the flow of roadsi<strong>de</strong> bombs across the frontier. But Iran has consistently <strong>de</strong>nied sending powerful bombs into Iraq <strong>and</strong> has challenged previous claims by the U.S. military that it was doing so. Simmons said the number of attacks using the <strong>de</strong>vices had <strong>de</strong>clined in all areas, but he conce<strong>de</strong>d that 1,560 was still a "significant number," compara¬ ble with the level of attacks in Septem¬ ber 2005. Most roadsi<strong>de</strong> bomb attacks, he said, were now in northern Iraq amid indica¬ tions that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Sunni extremist group that Ameri¬ can intelligence agencies say is led by non-Iraqis, has shifted some of its activ¬ ities out of Baghdad <strong>and</strong> Anbar Province, where it has been challenged by U.S. <strong>and</strong> Iraqi security forces. In violence Thursday, a suici<strong>de</strong> car bomber Thursday killed six people in Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, when he rammed his vehicle into a police con¬ voy. The police said the <strong>de</strong>ad inclu<strong>de</strong>d three schoolchildren <strong>and</strong> that the ap¬ parent target, General Khattab Abdul¬ lah Aref, a senior police officer who has led the fight in the area against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, was seriously woun<strong>de</strong>d. One American soldier was killed <strong>and</strong> four were woun<strong>de</strong>d by an explosion on Wednesday in Diyala Province north of Baghdad, the American military said. 93