Yossi Melman / UN nuclear watchdog can't agree what Iran is up to

Everyone knows the children's riddle: If it's green on the outside and red on the inside and it has seeds, obviously it's a watermelon. That is a similar dynamic in grasping the material in the new International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran's nuclear program.

According to the report, the military dimension of the Iranian nuclear program is analyzed, and it discusses evidence that suggests that Iran has a military nuclear program, or at least that it has taken steps that imply that it is seeking nuclear weapons.

But the report does not say this clearly. It does not even hint at it. The report lacks the bottom line, as is the case in every report of the IAEA on this issue. It comes out quarterly.

In theory the preparation of the reports is the collective work of the organization's senior officers, who write on the basis of the field work of the organization's inspectors at the nuclear sites in Iran where they are allowed access. However, in practice the report and its ambiguous writing, is in the spirit of the outgoing head of the organization, Dr. Mohammed Elbaradaei.

It is no secret that there are disagreements over the report, and Haaretz has reported more than once that ElBaradaei's deputy, Olli Heinonen, would like the reports to state unequivocal facts. However, as is common in an international bureaucratic organization, efforts are being made to maintain the impression of unity, with differences being kept under wraps.

Israel decided last year to take its gloves off in dealing with ElBaradaei and charged him with hiding important information that is neither mentioned in the reports nor is its significance noted. In other words, the reports are failing to connect the dots.

In Israel and the West, they are also not accepting the justifications that often appear in the report, that the IAEA cannot publish some of the information it has received from various sources, because it has been asked not to make it available to Iran.

This time the IAEA blamed "unidentified sources" for feeding the media with false information and distorted interpretations. The announcement, made by a spokesman for the organization, took aim at Israel and reports in Haaretz that argued that ElBaradaei was hiding information, and that senior officials in the organization had insisted the information should be included in the current report.

The fact that ElBaradaei is stepping down by year's end is no consolation as there is no certainty his Japanese successor will be any more determined to be stern with Iran.

Nonetheless, the IAEA reports and the struggle over their wording are a tool toward a more important goal. Israel, the U.S. and the European Union would like Russia and China to recognize that Iran is in contravention of its international obligations, and that it actions contradict its claims that its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes. There is evidence that Iran has a military nuclear program, and the Western states want Moscow and Beijing to join the West in imposing tough sanctions on Iran, especially the kind that target its soft economic underbelly - its oil and gas industry.

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