Tehran: Iran's atomic energy chief claimed
on Thursday that the UN nuclear watchdog misunderstood the nature of
the experiments at a Tehran laboratory mentioned in the
agency's latest report.
The report underscored the West's concerns about Iranian
nuclear ambitions and came as the UN Security Council inches
toward imposing a new round of sanctions on Tehran for
refusing to suspend its nuclear enrichment.
Ali Akbar Salehi said the International Atomic Energy
Agency's report earlier this week made a "misinterpretation"
in a reference about pyroprocessing -- a procedure that can be
used to purify uranium metal used in nuclear warheads.
Salehi, according to the semiofficial Isna news agency,
said the Tehran lab experiments deal with uranium production,
not pyroprocessing.
"The experiments have no relation to pyroprocessing," he
said.
"We believe the agency used this false report about a
process that has not yet taken place, with the purpose of
influencing public opinion."
Salehi stressed such "mistakes" would backfire and only
damage IAEA's reputation.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, June 03, 2010, 20:31