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IAEA: ElBaradei needs no authority beyond IAEA to deal with Iran | |||||
2006-03-12 | |||||
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei does not need any authority beyond the IAEA to deal with IranÂ’s nuclear dossier, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said on Thursday.
There have been some failures in Iran’s nuclear activities over the past 18 years, she said. “It’s like a puzzle. When some pieces do not exist, we need further cooperation from Iran to get a complete picture of its activities.” A country which is a member of the IAEA should cooperate with the agency, but the IAEA cannot expect forced cooperation, she observed. Fleming stated that the IAEA intends to give the world a true and precise picture of Iran’s nuclear activities, and in order to do so, has asked Iran to help it a little more than is legally required.
“ElBaradei wants full transparency from Iran so that IAEA inspectors can resolve the remaining issues. We can only resolve the issue with the help of Iran and only when Iran announces readiness to cooperate with the agency’s inspectors beyond the legal book,” she said in response to a question on what ElBaradei meant by ‘full transparency’.
“But since the Iranian delegation requested that the (anti-Iranian) links be removed, we took them off of the website,” she explained. However, the links to the Western websites are still on the IAEA’s official website.
Asked whether the IAEA would give Iranian TV permission to conduct interviews with the agency’s inspectors in another country, Fleming replied, “Yes, if that country allowed you to do that.” Obviously, the inspectors will not reveal confidential information, she explained, adding that the inspectors in the BBC documentary had not violated agency regulations and both ElBaradei and IAEA Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen had seen the documentary. | |||||
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