UN nuclear agency governors Thursday approved cuts in technical aid to Iran to uphold UN sanctions implemented over concern that Teheran may be trying to master the means to build atom bombs.

The move by the 35-nation board of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reflected a December resolution by the UN Security Council banning transfers of technology or expertise to Iran that might be applied to producing nuclear fuel.

Only two other states in the IAEA's 50-year history have been stripped of nuclear aid over fear about possible diversions into bombmaking North Korea and Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

Iran says its nuclear program is meant only to generate electricity. The program is centered on uranium enrichment, a process which can either yield fuel for power plants or for bombs if taken to higher degrees.

Western powers suspect a hidden agenda to build nuclear arms and four years of IAEA investigations often stonewalled by Iran have failed to verify Iran's intentions.

By consensus, the board ratified a decision by the IAEA's Secretariat to freeze or curb 22 of the 55 aid projects, closing ranks on an issue that earlier had split the governing body.

Iran condemns decision

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, condemned the decision and blamed the UN Security Council, saying it had illegally undermined the IAEA's professional independence.

"None of these projects are in fact related to the enrichment program, which will continue as planned," he told reporters.

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) bloc of developing states, to which Iran belongs, had opposed cuts.

They feared a precedent would be set jeopardizing their own access to IAEA aid for nuclear energy seen as key to modernizing their economies.

They also noted there is no hard evidence Iran is abusing IAEA resources for military ends, although doubts abound.

But fears of an unprecedented, debilitating political dispute on the board over the matter eased last month after a Secretariat review of technical aid for Iran.

"No one declared dissatisfaction with the Secretariat's choices, which were made in an extremely professional manner," said Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, Egypt's envoy to the IAEA.

The blocked projects related to nuclear power planning and technical and security measures in developing nuclear fuel.

(China Daily via agencies March 9, 2007)