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Friday 27 January 2012 - 19:02

Amano changes tune on Iran

Story Code : 133537
Amano changes tune on Iran
Yukiya Amano's call on Iran to work with inspectors comes despite the fact that Iran has so far spared no effort to cooperate with IAEA in line and even beyond its international obligations as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Speaking on the sidelines of the Davos forum in Switzerland, Amano claimed that the organization's previous efforts to verify whether Iran's nuclear activities were for non-military purposes had been hampered by “a lack of cooperation” from Iran, AFP reported.

“The high-level team leaves today and starts work tomorrow…. We hope they (Iran) will take a constructive approach. We hope that there will be substantial cooperation,” Amano added.

Amano circulated his latest report on Iran among the 35-member IAEA Board of Governors on Tuesday, November 8, claiming that Iran had engaged in activities related to developing nuclear weapons before 2003, which “may still be ongoing.”

The report, which Tehran dismissed as unbalanced and unprofessional, stood in sharp contrast to previous IAEA admissions to not having found any evidence of diversion in Iran's nuclear program.

Speaking in Davos, Amano reiterated his past unfounded claims about diversion in Iran's nuclear program, saying that it was too early to say definitively that Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

“We have information that indicates that Iran has engaged in activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device,” he continued.

“We are requesting that Iran clarifies the situation. We proposed to make a mission and they agreed to accept the mission…. The preparations have gone well but we need to see what actually happens when the mission arrives,” the IAEA director general noted.

Amano further stated that the onus was on Iran to prove its good intentions.

He, however, emphasized that there is no other alternative to addressing this crisis than peaceful resolution through dialogue.

While Iran has said it is ready to sit down with P5+1 - Britain China, France, Russia, the United States, and Germany, Amano said, “Iran should comply with the relevant Security Council resolutions.”

“They have to prove themselves, that their nuclear development program is genuinely for peaceful purposes,” he claimed.

On December 19, Western diplomats said that Iran had reinstated an invitation offer for IAEA inspectors to visit the country after a previous invitation, issued in October, was rejected by Amano who claimed that Tehran had refused to address the agency's specific concerns.

A senior diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that a top-level IAEA mission could fly to Iran in late January if Tehran agrees to meet agency calls to supply information on its nuclear work.

Following the invitation, Iran's Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh said on December 20, that Tehran is ready to address any concerns about its nuclear program.

Iranian officials have expressed numerous concerns about repeated efforts by IAEA inspectors to leak data about Iran's nuclear program and scientists to foreign governments, leading to terrorist attacks against a number of Iranian nuclear scholars. The IAEA has so far ignored Iran's concerns.
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