IAEA urges 'full disclosure' on Iranian nuclear programme

With the clock ticking towards a “decisive” and “non-negotiable” deadline of 31 October, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency today called on Iran to provide “full transparency and full disclosure” to corroborate its assertions that it is not seeking to produce nuclear weapons.

Iran, a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) renouncing nuclear weapons, has “ample time” to “come with a full and accurate declaration” of its nuclear programme by then, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed El Baradei, told reporters in Vienna on the eve of the arrival in Iran of a team of senior agency inspectors.

“The most important issue will be to verify the nature and extent of Iran’s uranium enrichment program,” Dr ElBaradei added.

The IAEA first raised concerns publicly about Iran's nuclear programme in June when it said the country had failed to report certain nuclear material and activities as required by the NPT.

A resolution passed last month by the IAEA Board of Governors expressed “grave concern” and set the deadline, noting that environmental sampling at one site, Natanz, revealed the presence of two types of highly enriched uranium. IAEA inspectors also found considerable modifications to the premises of the Kalaye Electric Company prior to inspections that may have an impact on the accuracy of environmental sampling.

Iran said the samplings came from equipment that had been contaminated with highly enriched uranium particles before it was imported.

Addressing the 9 September Board of Governors meeting, Dr El Baradei said: “We are well aware that we are dealing with an issue that concerns a capability – namely enrichment – to produce weapons usable material. And we still have a number of unresolved problems.

“There are various scenarios we need to examine: one is contamination of the equipment, another is importation of enriched uranium, a third is enrichment inside Iran and a fourth is some combination of the above,” he added.

“We need to clarify that as early as possible. That means that we will need the necessary support not only from Iran, but also from all countries that may have provided assistance to Iran. Moreover, we will certainly need to identify the origin of any equipment involved.”

(gmcg)