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Asefi says IAEA report `could have been better`

IRNA

Tehran, Nov 12, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi 
said here on Wednesday that the latest report by the International 
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding Iran`s nuclear energy activities
could have been better. 
Asefi told reporters that the IAEA report had in several cases 
proved Iran`s claims that its nuclear activities are peaceful, 
stressing that it had also shown that Iran is extending a transparent 
cooperation with the agency. 
He said Iran`s reported activities to enrich plutonium had been 
at the very preliminary stages, and just for laboratory purposes. 
The Foreign Ministry spokesman further stressed that Iran is still
debating with members of the IAEA Board of Governors regarding the 
upcoming meeting of the board to discuss Iran`s nuclear program. 
He also said that the talks of Hassan Rowhani, the secretary of 
Iran`s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), with IAEA officials 
and Russian leaders over the weekend had been positive. 
Elsewhere in his remarks, Asefi said Foreign Minister Kamal 
Kharrazi will visit Japan and China next week to discuss mutual ties 
as well as peaceful nuclear energy activities. 
The IAEA in a report on Monday announced that it had found no 
evidence that Iran`s previously undeclared nuclear material and 
activities were related to a nuclear weapons program. 
Iran, as an NPT member, has always stressed that its nuclear 
energy program is peaceful, and has strongly rejected US black 
propaganda that the Islamic Republic is pursuing weapons of mass 
destruction. 
The IAEA is refusing to provide Iran with the nuclear expertise 
that under the agency`s regulations it is entitled to receive, arguing
that Tehran must first sign an additional protocol of the NPT that 
allows snap inspections of its nuclear sites. 
The IAEA Board of Governors in September set an October 31 
deadline for Iran to prove it is pursuing peaceful nuclear programs. 
The resolution that was submitted by Canada, Japan and Australia 
also calls on Tehran to clarify its nuclear program by the end of 
October and to suspend its uranium enrichment program. 
Iran told foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain on 
October 21 that it would soon announce readiness to sign the NPT 
additional protocol, and to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.
The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali 
Khamenei last Sunday strongly supported Iran`s decision to sign the 
NPT additional protocol, stressing however that Iran would stop 
cooperation with the relevant organizations if they demand too much. 
Iran`s permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) Ali Akbar Salehi on October 23 -- eight days before the 
IAEA resolution`s deadline was due -- submitted the final documents on
Iran`s nuclear activities to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei 
at his office in Vienna, as scheduled earlier. 
ElBaradei accordingly said the report "looks comprehensive" and 
said it will be examined and the final assessment will be passed on 
by the IAEA Board of Governors on November 20. 
The Secretary of Iran`s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) 
Hassan Rowhani met ElBaradei in Vienna last Saturday for talks on 
Iran`s nuclear energy program. He told reporters after the meeting 
that Iran had answered all IAEA questions regarding its nuclear 
activities. 
This was followed by reports on Monday that Salehi had handed a 
letter to ElBaradei according to which Iran had voiced readiness to 
sign the NPT additional protocol and suspend its uranium enrichment 
activities as of November 11. 
AA/211 
End