The UN’s atomic energy watchdog said yesterday it was still unable to confirm that Iran’s nuclear drive was entirely peaceful, despite increased cooperation from Tehran in a number of key areas. Iran, for its part, insisted that it was cooperating fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and any talk of possible further UN sanctions would be counterproductive.The IAEA was “unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities,” agency chief Mohamed El-Baradei told the body’s 35-member board at the start of its regular year-end meeting. “This is especially crucial in the case of Iran, because of its history of undeclared activities, and the corresponding need to restore confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program,” El-Baradei said.
Nevertheless, the IAEA “has no concrete information about possible undeclared nuclear material or weaponization activities in Iran,” El-Baradei insisted.
And he urged Tehran “to be more pro-active in providing information... in order for the IAEA to be able to clarify all major remaining issues by the end of the year.”
The Iran nuclear dossier was the dominant topic at the IAEA board meeting. And the focus was El-BaradeiÂ’s latest report on Iran, in which the IAEA chief had declared the jury is still out on the nature of IranÂ’s nuclear activities, despite coming clean on a number of key past questions.
Crucially, Iran was continuing to defy repeated UN demands that it suspend uranium enrichment, a key phase in the nuclear fuel cycle. Indeed, the fact that it is continuing to expand such activities had only reinforced the WestÂ’s belief that Tehran is seeking to develop the nuclear bomb, despiteÂ’s IranÂ’s protestations.
Iran’s UN envoy Ali-Asghar Soltanieh insisted that Tehran had provided “all the information” the IAEA had requested and also allowed access to all the necessary sites. “We have provided all the information and the agency has been visiting all workshops producing centrifuge machines, every piece of it,” Soltanieh told reporters, referring to the centrifuges that are used to enrich uranium.
“We’ll continue this mood of cooperation,” the Iranian ambassador said, but warned that the “constructive approach” would be jeopardized by possible UN sanctions.