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ElBaradei: Iran's nuclear crisis better be solved via negotiations

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Vienna, Nov 24, IRNA
Iran-Nuclear-ElBaradei
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei here Thursday said that negotiations with senior Iranian officials at the international level and continued supervision of the agency's inspectors over Iran's nuclear activities would be the best way to solve the current crisis.

Speaking at the IAEA Board of Governors fall meeting in the Austrian capital of Vienna, he called for Iran's positive response and further cooperation in order to clarify the remaining questions and ambiguities on Iran's nuclear program.

Turning to the three-year efforts of UN nuclear watchdog in Iran, he said that the Iranian officials have recently been more cooperative by permitting inspection of its nuclear sites.

ElBaradei referred to his recent report on Iran's nuclear activity and the country's commitment to the terms of the Board of Governors resolutions and said that the document has clearly declared that the agency would continue its inspection to uncover the remaining ambiguities about the nature and the advancement of the program.

He underlined that such surveys and inspections will continue until the nature of Iran's peaceful nuclear programs are uncovered.

The IAEA chief pointed to Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility in Isfahan and said that its operation is closely supervised by the agency.

He hoped that the diplomatic and technical efforts currently underway would be effective and that the issue would be solved through negotiations between the two sides.

ElBaradei pointed to the inspections and verification of nuclear programs by the agency at various world countries and noted that the relevant report released by the Technical Assistance and Cooperation Committee would be on the agenda of the ongoing Board of Governors meeting.

"In the meeting, the technical cooperation program and the progress achieved in this respect as well as the agency's proposed program for 2006 would be discussed.

"Concerning verification and inspection, the agency's role would continue, given the extensive measures of the type taken by it throughout the world," he added.

He assessed the IAEA activities in implementing the safeguard agreements in 2005 as favorable and reiterated the need to continue them.

The fall meeting of the agency opened at the Vienna-based IAEA Headquarters on Thursday by ElBaradei's address.

During the session, the five-page report of the agency chief released on Friday will be examined and the extent of Iran's cooperation with the IAEA in solving its nuclear crisis and clarification of the remaining dark points would be assessed.

According to the released statement, verification of nuclear non-proliferation would be high on the agenda.

The meeting is held while the representatives of the EU trio including Germany, Britain and France declared on Tuesday that they would submit no resolution against Iran in the Board of Governors meeting.

This is despite the fact that the EU3 had so far been
responsible for the resolutions approved by the Board of Governors against Iran and the repetitive threats of referral of the case to the UN Security Council.

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