UN:Western and developing nations broadly accept a UN nuclear agency plan to cut almost half its aid projects in Iran, diplomats say, easing fears of a row over how strictly to apply UN sanctions against Tehran.
The plan, to cut technical aid projects based on a review by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts, must be approved at a March 5th to 9th meeting of the agency's 35-nation board of governors.
However members ranging from Iran's arch enemy the United States to its close ally Cuba raised no objections when IAEA aides, at a briefing this week, explained their criteria for shutting down some projects while continuing others, diplomats present said.
"No one is totally satisfied, but the review is as balanced as can be under the circumstances. I see no one wanting to pick a fight when the board convenes," a senior diplomat from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which includes Iran, said.
This suggested the board might ratify the review by consensus rather than amend and vote on it, averting a damaging split.
Iran was hit with UN sanctions over its failure to prove to the IAEA that its efforts to enrich uranium are geared only towards generating electricity, as it maintains.
The December 23rd resolution bans transfers of sensitive nuclear materials and expertise to Iran as well as IAEA technical aid - traditionally given to bolster peaceful uses of nuclear energy - if it has any possible use in yielding atomic fuel.
Of the 55 IAEA aid projects in Iran, 10 were frozen and 12 others restricted to comply with the sanctions.
"We are pleased that the IAEA has decided to cut technical assistance to 22 projects," Gregory Schulte, US ambassador to the agency, said after the briefing.
Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh said the decision was unwarranted and weakened the IAEA's credibility.
The March IAEA board meeting will also consider two reports by agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei - one likely to find Iran has defied a February 21st deadline for suspending enrichment, the other on the prospects for returning IAEA inspectors to North Korea.