VIENNA, Austria – Western diplomats and nuclear experts voiced growing concern Tuesday that Iran has reneged on its promise to fully suspend uranium enrichment – a process that can be used to make nuclear weapons.
Worries over Tehran’s nuclear intentions coincided with decreased concern among nuclear watchdogs about Libya’s nuclear ambitions. Tripoli volunteered last month to give up chemical, biological and nuclear weapons or weapons programs.
Disarmament teams are in Libya to start dismantling the country’s weapons of mass destruction, and diplomats say the North African country apparently was sincere in its vow to disarm.
The most recent developments threaten, therefore, to put Iran at center stage at the next top-level meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in March.
Tehran announced it had suspended uranium enrichment late last year as it sought to blunt international concern and to defang U.S. attempts to gain U.N. Security Council involvement.