nuclear-news

Both countries were unhappy with ElBaradei’s “unhelpful” response to Iran’s nuclear program, but the bid to prevent his re-election to the nuclear regulatory agency’s leadership ultimately failed for lack of international support.The February 18, 2005 State Department cable released by WikiLeaks on Tuesday opens a window into the effort, describing a lunch conversation between Australian officials and a US special envoy for nuclear non-proliferation, Jackie Sanders.

The cable spotlights US and Australian concerns over the Egyptian diplomat’s interpretation that Iran had a “right” to civilian nuclear power, and his reluctance to declare Iran in non-compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Australian officials said there weren’t the 12 votes on the IAEA board of governors needed to deny ElBaradei re-election, “but that did not stop them from speculating on ways to try to prevent his re-election,” said the cable.

John Carlson, then head of Australia’s nuclear safeguards agency and one of the officials at the lunch, said Canberra strongly supported limiting IAEA chiefs to two terms, according to the cable…… The cable also included an informal document forwarded by Carlson, who had not yet cleared it with his government, entitled The case against ElBaradei….