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| 08:11, September 08, 2009 |
IAEA calls for cooperation on regional nuclear issues
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International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei attends a board of governors meeting in Vienna September 7, 2009. A senior Iranian official has accused the United States of feeding "forged" intelligence to the U.N. nuclear watchdog that says Iran had studied ways to make atomic bombs. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei Monday called for cooperation from Iran, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Syria to solve issues concerning their nuclear programs.
Speaking here at a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, ElBaradei said Iran had cooperated with the Agency in improving safeguards measures at the Fuel Enrichment Plant and in providing the required access to the Iran Nuclear Research Reactor(IR-40) at Arak for purposes of design information verification.
However, he also pointed out that Iran had not suspended its enrichment related activities or its work on heavy water related projects as required by the Security Council, nor has Iran implemented the Additional Protocol.
ElBaradei proposed three key areas relevant to Iran's nuclear program that need to be addressed: "At first, and specifically, Iran needs to respond fully to all the questions raised by the Agency in order to exclude the possibility of there being military dimensions to its nuclear program."
For the second, he said Iran needed to "implement the Additional Protocol." Without the Protocol, the Agency would not be able to provide credible assurances about the absence of undeclared nuclear activities in Iran.
For the third, he said that Iran's future intentions concerning its nuclear program "need to be clarified to respond to the concerns of the international community."
On August 28, ElBaradei submitted the report on Iranian nuclear issue, noting that Iran still failed to comply with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council. However, he pointed out that Iran had improved cooperation with IAEA, and slowed down its uranium enrichment process.
France and Israel immediately replied that the criticism on Iran in this report was too "soft" and accused the report omitted some basic information on Iran's nuclear program.
The Director General stressed in the meeting that all the information made available to the Agency relevant to Iran's nuclear program had been brought to the Board. He said the allegations were politically motivated and totally baseless, and would also undermine the IAEA's independence and objectivity.
On the DPRK nuclear issue, ElBaradei said since IAEA inspectors left in April after DPRK ceased all cooperation with the Agency, it was unable to carry out any monitoring, and therefore to make any report to the Broad.
He called on all parties to continue to work for a comprehensive solution that would bring North Korea back to the NPT.
The director general said IAEA is still investigating allegations concerning the destroyed building on the Dair Alzour site in Syria and urged Syria to cooperate with the Agency in its verification activities related to the nature of the Dair Alzour site.
Source: Xinhua
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