Iran not cooperating: UN

VIENNA (AFP) - The new chief of the UN atomic watchdog, Yukiya Amano, accused Iran on Monday of not cooperating sufficiently with an investigation into its contested nuclear activities.
In an opening address to an International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors meeting, Amano said a UN-brokered deal to supply Iran with fuel for a nuclear research reactor was still on table.
The agency continues to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran, but we cannot confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities because Iran has not provided the agency with the necessary cooperation, he said.
The necessary cooperation includes, among other things, implementation of relevant resolutions of the IAEA board of governors and the United Nations Security Council, the Japanese diplomat said.
It also meant allowing IAEA inspectors to conduct snap inspections, notifying the agency of plans to build nuclear plants in advance and clarification of issues related to possible military dimensions to Irans nuclear programme.
Amano, who took over the UN watchdog on December 1, circulated a report to IAEA member states 10 days ago, the wording of which was seen as tougher than that used by his predecessor Mohamed ElBaradei. Amano expressed concern that Tehran may be working on a nuclear warhead and confirms that Iran has started enriching uranium to higher levels, theoretically bringing it close the levels needed for an atomic bomb.
Not only was it lengthy, it also went to technical details which (confused) the public, Soltanieh told reporters after Amano had delivered his speech.
For example, the report had noted that Iran moved almost all its stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) up for further processing to a higher level of enrichment. Soltanieh said the stockpile has been moved back to its original site.
In Geneva, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Monday that Iran was fully cooperating with the UN atomic watchdog, after the agency again questioned Tehrans nuclear actions.
The new chief and the new managers of the (International Atomic Energy) agency should look at the record of Irans cooperation, Mottaki told a press conference in Geneva, speaking through an interpreter.
If they had a very brief look at Irans record, they would understand that we have a full cooperation with the agency and these cooperations will continue, he added.
The Iranian minister insisted that Tehran was among countries most committed to the IAEA, when asked about his reaction to the watchdogs concerns. We were and we are, he stressed.