The United Nations nuclear watchdog condemned Iran today over an 18-year cover-up of sensitive atomic research and said any future breach of non-proliferation obligations would not be tolerated.
The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stopped short of reporting Iran to the Security Council, which could have imposed sanctions. However, some countries think Tehran has more secrets and will eventually face the UN's supreme body.
The IAEA governing board adopted a resolution that "strongly deplores" Iran's cover-up over the past 18 years of a programme that involves uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing - both of which could be pointers to a nuclear arms programme.
The resolution, which passed after more than a week of tough negotiations between its sponsors France, Germany and Britain, and Washington over how to balance encouragement and condemnation, also praises Iran's promises of "active cooperation and openness".
The United States sees Iran as part of an international "axis of evil" and believes it has been using a secretive atomic energy programme to hide development of nuclear arms -- an accusation Tehran denies.
IAEA head Mr Mohamed ElBaradei told a news conference he was pleased with the resolution, but added: "The board is sending a very serious and ominous message that failures in the future will not be tolerated and that the board will use all options available to it to deal with these failures."
Iran's foreign ministry hailed the resolution as an "achievement" for Tehran. However, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA was disappointed the text left out the IAEA's conclusion in a recent report on Iran that there was "no evidence" of a weapons programme. "The most important conclusion of the report...was not incorporated in the resolution," Mr Ali Akbar Salehi said.
The IAEA report, however, had also said the jury was still out on whether there was a nuclear arms programme. Washington, which was infuriated by the IAEA's "no evidence" conclusion, saw the resolution as both a clear rejection of Iran's nuclear cover-up and a US victory.
The United States had hoped to send Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions for "non-compliance" with its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The Europeans opposed this and Washington finally acquiesced.
Russia also welcomed the resolution, saying it was pleased the matter would not be taken up by the Security Council.