Iran is Prepared to Allow Full IAEA Monitoring, Says Putin
VOA News
20 Jun 2003, 10:51 UTC
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Iran's leader has personally assured him that Tehran has no plans to develop nuclear weapons, and will drop its objections to inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Mr. Putin says Iranian President Mohammad Khatami told him as recently as Wednesday, during a telephone conversation, that Tehran is prepared to allow full IAEA monitoring of its nuclear energy program. It appeared that Mr. Putin was referring to a request by the U.N. agency for nuclear inspections on short notice.
Before the Russian president spoke out in Moscow Friday, Iranian officials said Tehran would rebuff an IAEA request to open its nuclear facilities to inspectors. The U.N. agency says inspections without advance warning could defuse suspicions that Tehran is operating a secret weapons program.
The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, says the IAEA's insistence on conducting surprise inspections is the result of a lack of support for U.S. charges that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. In Washington, a White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said a statement the IAEA issued about Iran is "international reinforcement" of President Bush's belief that the world will not allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons. The IAEA issued its statement Thursday, one day after the agency debated a report saying Iran is refusing to disclose information on its importation, processing and storage of nuclear materials, despite promising to do so.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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