Nobel goes to U.S. critic

last updated 8 January 2015

Vienna

Egyptian diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei and the U.N. nuclear agency he heads won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize—an honor many viewed as a slap at the U.S. ElBaradei became unpopular with U.S. officials in 2002 and 2003, after he advocated continued weapons inspections in Iraq rather than an invasion. More recently, he refused to support a U.S. claim that Iran is trying to make a nuclear bomb, saying he could only confirm that Iran had been hiding, and lying about, its nuclear programs for 17 years. The U.S. was alone in opposing a third term for ElBaradei at the International Atomic Energy Agency this year, and it eventually backed him only reluctantly. The Nobel Committee praised ElBaradei as an “unafraid advocate” of stronger nonproliferation measures.