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Ball in Iran’s court to come clean on nuclear programme – IAEA

Ball in Iran’s court to come clean on nuclear programme – IAEA

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Declaring that “the ball is very much in Iran’s court,” the United Nations agency entrusted with curbing the spread of nuclear weapons has again called on Tehran to show greater openness to assure the world that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.

“If I say there are three more important things Iran needs to do, I should say transparency, transparency and more transparency,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said, noting that Iran had for almost two decades concealed its nuclear activities in breach of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

“It is difficult that we can come to a conclusion and provide assurance, without full cooperation, full openness, full transparency on the part of Iran,” he told reporters yesterday in Vienna, where the IAEA Board of Governors is meeting.

“We need to keep moving forward; we need to conclude the process as early as possible. The ball is very much in Iran’s court to come clean through absolute transparency measures and cooperation with the Agency,” he added.

“And that’s what we are asking Iran to do – to go out of its way, not just to play it by the book, but to be more transparent, to allow us to do everything we want to do, frankly, in terms of interviewing people, in terms with having access to documents, in terms of making transparency visits to facilities…that we can create the necessary confidence.”

Iran has consistently denied it is seeking nuclear weapons, insisting its programme is purely for energy generation but Mr. ElBaradei has said the IAEA is not in a position to conclude there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in the country. Several countries, including the United States, insist Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.

Yesterday the IAEA chief noted that the agency had no new revelations about Iran’s past activities and was making good progress, particularly with regard to the uranium enrichment programme, a step that could produce weapons-grade fuel.

“We are cooperating well with Pakistan to resolve the issue of contamination,” he said, referring to the possible source of radioactive material found in Iran and to Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan, blamed for the black market spread of nuclear technology to other countries.

“We are conducting interviews with members of the illicit network to understand the dimension of the enrichment programme in Iran. And we are trying to...make sure that Iran’s programme has been declared to us in its entirety,” he added.

Mr. ElBaradei, who called for Iranian transparency when he addressed the Board on Monday at its opening session, said he had a “good meeting” yesterday with Iranian representatives, again explaining to them that “it really is in their interest to make everything possible for us to speed up the process and conclude our investigation on the past programme.”