IAEA Urges Iran to Give Assurances on Nuclear Program
VOA News
16 Jun 2003, 15:36 UTC
The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency has appealed to Iran to give credible assurances of the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities.
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei told the group's board of governors Iran has failed to report the storage and use of nuclear materials, but he said Iranian authorities are taking corrective action. Mr. ElBaradei made his comments in Vienna as the board of governors opened a week-long closed-door meeting. An IAEA spokeswoman says the group has sent inspectors to nuclear facilities in Iran since February, but says it wants more transparency from the Iranians.
In his statement, Mr. ElBaradei specifically called on Iran to sign an Additional Protocol with the agency that would give the group access to more sites and the right to conduct additional inspection in the country.
The Bush administration says Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies this.
Meanwhile, European Union foreign ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, called on Iran to urgently sign a protocol allowing U.N. inspections of the nuclear sites. They linked unconditional Iranian acceptance of stricter safeguards to progress on an E.U. trade deal with Iran.
But in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said his country cannot accept any preconditions for talks with other countries or any community.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.
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