Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Nuclear Stakes
Aired December 13, 2002 - 09:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: You hear a lot about the IAEA, the director of that program in Austria. In fact, they're going to brief reporters within minutes, and we'll certainly track that for reaction.
In the meantime, though, let's get to London, and our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, watching both fronts right now.
And we say hello to Christiane.
First on Iran, the U.S. announcement from yesterday, much reaction just yet?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, nothing official, but we are expecting to hear about that in the press conference later in about 20 minutes from now.
But in the meantime, I've been speaking to my own sources at the IAEA who tell me that, in fact, at least a year ago, they say, they won't give me the exact date, the IAEA was aware of construction going on in Iran at these two areas. They were aware that something was going on, that it is underground. They have not seen any nuclear reactors being built, but they knew some construction was going on.
Then in August of this last year, August 2002, Iranian opposition group held a press conference in Washington, which clearly didn't receive much attention, but did detail these situations that we've been talking about with the satellite photos, this new construction.
Following that, in September, three months ago, Iranian officials went to the IAEA in Vienna and told the IAEA that Iran does, in fact, plan to build a 5,000- 6,000 megawatt nuclear energy program. That is a huge nuclear energy program. That is what the Iranian officials did tell the IAEA. At which point, the IAEA said they wanted access to the new potential sites they suspected. Iran said OK, the director general of the IAEA was scheduled to meet this week in Iran looking at these sites at the two sites that has been showing up on the satellite pictures. That was postponed by the Iranians, and that is, according to the IAEA, definitely rescheduled for February.
So this is what the actual details are that I'm getting from the IAEA and we perhaps will have more light shed on that shortly in this press conference coming up.
But in other words, this wasn't secret to the IAEA, this construction that's being detected by satellite imagery. HEMMER: Now we see whether or not they get in the ground there in February. Now, North Korea right now, this announcement that they made public as of yesterday, what are you gaining on that front, regarding Pyongyang?
AMANPOUR: Well, certainly, if you look at the press conference, the press statement that came out of the IAEA yesterday, there does appear to be worrying developments on the North Korean front.
Not only have they said and confirmed formally now they do plan to lift restrictions on these nuclear reactors that have been frozen since 1994, but that they also want the seals and monitoring equipment that monitor the nuclear facilities and the material in them, they want those seals to be removed. They have asked the IAEA to do it, and they say that if the IAEA does not remove the seals, that North Korean officials will do it themselves.
Just to be clear about what we are talking about here, part of the materials under seal and inspection right now are the spent nuclear fuel rods, which, as you know, nearly brought the world to the brink of a crisis back in 1994. The threat of not being able to monitor those, of not being able to inspect those back then nearly brought the Clinton administration to a preemptive strike on the North Korean nuclear reactor.
So the question now is, will this sort of tit for tat between the United States and North Korea what we've been seeing over the last year and month lead to a possible next step, which could be the North Koreans telling those IAEA inspectors who remain in North Korea now to stop inspecting the material at these facilities.
So that is the situation. We expect to be hearing more from, again, El-Baradei during the press conference. He has urged the North Koreans to act with restraint, to not do anything rash, and he had asked for immediate access and immediate talks regarding safeguarding these nuclear reactors.
HEMMER: All right, in the meantime, that agency in Vienna just got a whole lot busier in the past 24 hours.
Christiane, thanks. We will monitor it and let you know what we find out a bit later today.
Christiane Amanpour in London.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 13, 2002 - 09:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: You hear a lot about the IAEA, the director of that program in Austria. In fact, they're going to brief reporters within minutes, and we'll certainly track that for reaction.
In the meantime, though, let's get to London, and our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, watching both fronts right now.
And we say hello to Christiane.
First on Iran, the U.S. announcement from yesterday, much reaction just yet?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Well, nothing official, but we are expecting to hear about that in the press conference later in about 20 minutes from now.
But in the meantime, I've been speaking to my own sources at the IAEA who tell me that, in fact, at least a year ago, they say, they won't give me the exact date, the IAEA was aware of construction going on in Iran at these two areas. They were aware that something was going on, that it is underground. They have not seen any nuclear reactors being built, but they knew some construction was going on.
Then in August of this last year, August 2002, Iranian opposition group held a press conference in Washington, which clearly didn't receive much attention, but did detail these situations that we've been talking about with the satellite photos, this new construction.
Following that, in September, three months ago, Iranian officials went to the IAEA in Vienna and told the IAEA that Iran does, in fact, plan to build a 5,000- 6,000 megawatt nuclear energy program. That is a huge nuclear energy program. That is what the Iranian officials did tell the IAEA. At which point, the IAEA said they wanted access to the new potential sites they suspected. Iran said OK, the director general of the IAEA was scheduled to meet this week in Iran looking at these sites at the two sites that has been showing up on the satellite pictures. That was postponed by the Iranians, and that is, according to the IAEA, definitely rescheduled for February.
So this is what the actual details are that I'm getting from the IAEA and we perhaps will have more light shed on that shortly in this press conference coming up.
But in other words, this wasn't secret to the IAEA, this construction that's being detected by satellite imagery. HEMMER: Now we see whether or not they get in the ground there in February. Now, North Korea right now, this announcement that they made public as of yesterday, what are you gaining on that front, regarding Pyongyang?
AMANPOUR: Well, certainly, if you look at the press conference, the press statement that came out of the IAEA yesterday, there does appear to be worrying developments on the North Korean front.
Not only have they said and confirmed formally now they do plan to lift restrictions on these nuclear reactors that have been frozen since 1994, but that they also want the seals and monitoring equipment that monitor the nuclear facilities and the material in them, they want those seals to be removed. They have asked the IAEA to do it, and they say that if the IAEA does not remove the seals, that North Korean officials will do it themselves.
Just to be clear about what we are talking about here, part of the materials under seal and inspection right now are the spent nuclear fuel rods, which, as you know, nearly brought the world to the brink of a crisis back in 1994. The threat of not being able to monitor those, of not being able to inspect those back then nearly brought the Clinton administration to a preemptive strike on the North Korean nuclear reactor.
So the question now is, will this sort of tit for tat between the United States and North Korea what we've been seeing over the last year and month lead to a possible next step, which could be the North Koreans telling those IAEA inspectors who remain in North Korea now to stop inspecting the material at these facilities.
So that is the situation. We expect to be hearing more from, again, El-Baradei during the press conference. He has urged the North Koreans to act with restraint, to not do anything rash, and he had asked for immediate access and immediate talks regarding safeguarding these nuclear reactors.
HEMMER: All right, in the meantime, that agency in Vienna just got a whole lot busier in the past 24 hours.
Christiane, thanks. We will monitor it and let you know what we find out a bit later today.
Christiane Amanpour in London.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
