TEHRAN escaped being reported to the UN Security Council yesterday for violating nuclear non-proliferation obligations, but arms experts suspect Iran has more nuclear skeletons in its closet that will come to light.

The United States sees Iran as part of an international ?axis of evil? and believes it is using a secretive atomic energy programme to screen development of nuclear arms ? an accusation Tehran denies.

The United Nations? Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) governing board adopted a resolution yesterday that ?strongly deplores? Iran?s 18-year cover-up of a programme including uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing.

But the resolution, which was put to the board after a week of haggling between France, Germany and Britain and Washington, also ?welcomes Iran?s offer of active cooperation and openness?.

Washington had hoped to send Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions for violating its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). But the Europeans opposed this and Washington eventually acquiesced.

Protocol to be signed

?The draft resolution has just been adopted by consensus,? IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told reporters. This means that all 35 members of the IAEA Board of Governors approved it. Countries on the board include the United States, Britain, France and Germany, as well as China, Russia, Pakistan, India and Malaysia and others.

Just before the IAEA board met, Iran sought to reassure Western States it would keep its key promise to sign a protocol allowing intrusive snap inspections of its atomic sites.

?Certainly we have committed ourselves to sign the Additional Protocol and that?s what we are going to do,? Iran?s representative to the UN nuclear watchdog, Ali Akbar Salehi said. He did not say when the protocol would be signed.

The IAEA resolution contains a so-called trigger clause; if further breaches are uncovered, the IAEA board will meet immediately to consider ?all options?, one of which is the Security Council.

Jon Wolfsthal, deputy director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a US-based think-tank, said the dispute between the European Union?s three biggest States and America might resurface if the IAEA uncovers more Iranian secrets.

?It?s very likely that Iran has more skeletons in its closet, and if they come to light, there will probably be another split between the United States and Europe on what?s the best approach to take,? Wolfsthal said.

?My concern is that there is no agreement either within Europe or between the key players on what to do when the shoe drops,? he said, adding that he was unsure if the Europeans were prepared to take Iran all the way to the Security Council.

Iran?s two-decade cover-up

The IAEA resolution is a response to an IAEA report that details Iran?s cover-up of sensitive atomic research for nearly two decades. It said there was ?no evidence? of a covert arms programme but the jury was still out as to whether one existed.

Gary Milhollin, head of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a US-based think-tank said the resolution had ?locked Iran into the declaration? it gave to the IAEA in October that Tehran insists it was complete and accurate.

If Iran does have more secrets, the trust that the Europeans have given it will be betrayed and the IAEA board will be under intense pressure to report Iran to the Council, he said.

?If the present declaration turns out to be false, then all bets are off and this deal unravels,? he said, referring to a French, Britain and German promise not to report Iran to the Council in exchange for full Iranian cooperation with the IAEA.

Louis Charbonneau

Iran?s Khamenei says US sinking in Iraq?s swamp

• Iran?s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday the United States was sinking deeper into a quagmire in Iraq and warned that Middle Eastern nations would not tolerate being occupied.

?The American nation should know that Iraq is America?s quagmire and America is sinking deeper into it by staying longer in Iraq,? Khamenei said in a sermon broadcast live on State media to mark the official end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Iran.

?The Americans are so desperate that they are bombing an occupied country...this (Middle East) region does not tolerate occupation,? the conservative cleric told tens of thousands of worshippers who gathered at a large mosque in Tehran.

Iran has repeatedly called for the acceleration of a power transfer in Iraq and the formation of an independent Iraqi government. Last week, Iran?s moderate President Mohammad Khatami officially recognised the Iraqi Governing Council, a mainly advisory group of 25 people selected by the United States.

?The Americans should know that any imposed government, constitution and elections would face resistance from the people in Iraq,? said Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority in Iran. ?In free elections the majority of the Iraqi people will choose those who will not allow the Americans to stay one more day in Iraq,? he said.

Khamenei said instead of providing democracy for Iraq, Washington was oppressing the Iraqi people.