The U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Gregory Schulte said on Friday Iran is only a few steps away from making nuclear explosives used for atomic bombs, to which he is "very uneasy."
Talking about the report on Iran's nuclear issue submitted by IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei on Wednesday, Schulte said that Iran is currently only able to extract lowly enriched uranium, but it is only a few steps away from making highly enriched uranium that is suitable for atomic bombs.
Schulte also noted that the latest IAEA report shows that Iran's activity "violates several resolutions of IAEA and the Unite Nations Security Council."
As to Syria's issue, Schulte said IAEA's verification report on Syria aroused "real concerns," but he also noted that "Syria is not Iran," and man would not attempt to "make Syria to Iran," if Syria will cooperate with IAEA.
ElBaradei submitted two reports on Iranian and Syrian nuclear issues to IAEA Board of Directors on Wednesday.
The report on Iranian nuclear issue said that Iran continues to carry out uranium enrichment and possesses a large amount of enriched uranium. However, the currently owned enriched uranium is the uranium with lowly purity which can only be used for nuclear power plants and not the uranium with highly purity for making atomic bombs.
The report on Syrian nuclear issue pointed out that IAEA inspectors have found some characteristics that are similar to a nuclear reactor site in Syria's establishment that was blew down by Israeli troops in September 2007 and requested Syria to cooperate with IAEA to carry out relevant investigations.
However, both Iran and Syria have firmly denied secretly developing any nuclear weapons.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article