The North-South Divide.

The Sept. 18 debate over the IAEA resolution's wording centred on a split between developing countries that see the nuclear fuel cycle, which includes everything from mining uranium ore to reprocessing nuclear waste, as the right of every signatory to the NPT, as the treaty states. David Albright, president of the US Institute for Science and International Security, was on Sept. 23 quoted by the New York Times (NYT) as saying: "There are many countries that want the right to have the complete fuel cycle, and it's becoming an issue that's dividing the north and the south". El-Baradei has warned repeatedly that the double standard of nuclear haves and have-nots as enshrined in the NPT is unsustainable.

Countries on the far side of the divide with the US concede that Iran may be abusing loopholes in the NPT to develop nuclear weapons. But they argue that inequities in the non-proliferation regime are undermining efforts to close those loopholes. If nuclear weapons states do not take their commitments under the NPT seriously, these countries argue, there is a risk of the treaty unravelling altogether.

The foreign ministers of seven NPT signatories - Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and Sweden - complained in a commentary published on Sept. 22 in the International Herald Tribune (IHT) that the US and other nuclear powers have not kept their side of the treaty's bargain. The NPT cannot be complied with a la carte, read the commentary.

In 2000, the nuclear powers made an unequivocal undertaking to eliminate their nuclear arsenals, the ministers wrote, adding that since then, "very little progress has been made". They urged all NPT signatories to comply with their commitments. In order for the US and its allies at the IAEA to reach a consensus on the Iran resolution without forcing a politically divisive vote - something the agency's board strenuously avoids - several European and non-aligned countries were allowed to state for the record that the call for Iran to suspend its nuclear fuel cycle activities was neither legally binding nor a precedent for similar actions against other members. Iran seized on the rift to press its case for continuing enrichment-related activities.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom sidestepped the question of whether the Jewish state would take military action against Iran if it continued to pursue its nuclear ambitions, told reporters after meeting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York: "We know that the Europeans are trying now to engage with the Iranians, but we know that the Iranians will never abandon their plans to develop nuclear weapons. They're only trying to hide it". He said Israel was sharing information about Iran's nuclear ambitions with the US and some intelligence agencies in Europe. He added: "We know very well that the Iranians will do everything in order to develop this kind of weapons".