Iran still not cooperating over its N-prog: IAEA chief

The IAEA has lamented that Iran is still not giving proof that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

United Nations: The head of the UN nuclear
watchdog agency Tuesday said that Iran is still not cooperating with the IAEA to show that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

"Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation to
enable the Agency to provide credible assurance about the
absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran,
and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is
in peaceful activities," International Atomic Energy Agency
chief Yukiya Amano said.

"I request Iran to take steps towards the full
implementation of its Safeguards Agreement and its other
obligations," Amano told the Board of Governors of the IAEA.
Iran denies that it is trying to build a nuclear bomb,
and insists that its uranium enrichment programme is to make
medical isotopes.

"Full implementation by Iran of its binding
obligations is needed to establish international confidence in
the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran`s nuclear programme,"
Amano said.

In June last year, the UN Security Council passed a
fourth round of sanctions against Iran for running its nuclear
programme without transparency and violating previous Security
Council resolutions along with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty.

The resolution created new categories of sanctions and
includes: banning Iran`s investment in nuclear activity
abroad, banning all ballistic missiles activities, blocking
Iran`s use of banks aboard and asset freezes for members of
the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The resolution, however, did not pass unanimously.
There were 12 votes in favour but both Turkey and Brazil voted
against while Lebanon abstained.

On recent developments in North Korea (DPRK), Amano
said made the country`s nuclear programme is a matter of
serious concern for the North-East Asia region and beyond.

"I believe that last year`s reports about the
construction of a new uranium enrichment facility and a light
water reactor in the DPRK underline how important it is that
the Agency should be present in the DPRK," he said.

PTI

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