VIENNA: Iran agreed to answer remaining questions about past, secret nuclear work within a month at talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief, the UN watchdog said yesterday.
In a statement issued after IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei's return, the UN watchdog said Teheran gave him information about work to develop an advanced centrifuge able to enrich uranium much faster than the antiquated model it uses now. ElBaradei met top Iranian leaders over two days last week to push for swifter cooperation to wrap up a long-running IAEA inquiry into its nuclear history and shed light on its current program.
"Agreement was reached on the timeline for implementation of all the remaining verification issues specified in the work plan. According to the agreed schedule implementation ... should be completed in the next four weeks," the IAEA said.
A diplomat close to the IAEA said ahead of ElBaradei's rare visit that the agency inquiry had entered a final phase with Iran addressing US intelligence given to UN inspectors about past attempts to "weaponize" atomic material.
"Iran is prepared to remove all outstanding ambiguities by March," an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
That would be in time for ElBaradei's next Iran report to the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors, which meets on March 3-7.
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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