Iran risks sanctions as IAEA deadline ends today

The UN Security Council asked International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei to spell out if Iran had heeded the deadline set in a July 31 resolution.

8220;The outcome is obvious. No one really expected otherwise,8221; a senior diplomat close to the IAEA said when asked if ElBaradei would judge Iran in defiance of the Security Council.

Diplomats said Washington felt the 30-day grace period given Iran was a fair chance for it to change its mind and if it did not, veto-holding Russia and China could be won over to back Council sanctions once the deadline expired.

8220;ElBaradei8217;s assessment that Iran has not suspended enrichment will provide a basis for the US, UK and France to argue in favour of imposing sanctions,8221; said Gary Samore, chief global security analyst at Chicago8217;s MacArthur Foundation.

8220;But Iran has obviously decided to press ahead, calculating that the Council is incapable of reaching agreement on serious economic sanctions and that sanctions outside the UN mooted by a frustrated Washington will not be effective.8221;

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was as matter-of-fact as ever on Tuesday. 8220;Peaceful nuclear energy is the right of the Iranian nation 8230; and no one can stop it,8221; he told reporters.

The IAEA has also been looking into concerns that Iran8217;s official agenda to make nuclear fuel only for electricity may be a civilian facade for a military quest to make atom bombs.

Probe targets since 2003 include plutonium experiments, alleged administrative links between processing of uranium ore, explosives tests and a missile warhead design, and black-market acquisitions of parts for centrifuges for enrichment.

8211;MARK HEINRICH