No sign Iran seeks nuclear arms: Amano

VIENNA (Reuters/AFP) - The incoming head of the UNs nuclear watchdog said on Friday he did not see any hard evidence that Iran was trying to gain the ability to develop nuclear weapons.
I dont see any evidence in IAEA official documents about this, Yukiya Amano told Reuters in his first direct comment on Irans nuclear programme since his election, when asked whether he believed Iran was seeking a nuclear weapons capability.
Im not going to be a soft director general or a tough director general, Amano told Reuters, when asked how he would approach issues like Iran and Syria, which are both subject to IAEA probes.
The UN atomic watchdogs incoming chief Yukiya Amano promised Friday to do his utmost to resolve a long-running nuclear standoff with Iran after governors formally gave their nod of approval to his appointment.
As the organisation in charge of nuclear safeguards, the task of the International Atomic Energy Agencys director general was to make sure that member countries stuck to their commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Amano told journalists.
What is expected of the director general and the agency is to implement these safeguards agreements in a professional and impartial manner. And I will do my utmost to do so, he said.
The IAEA has been investigating Irans controversial nuclear programme for the past six years, but has so far been unable to establish whether the activities are entirely peaceful as Tehran claims.
ElBaradei is stepping down at the end of November after 12 years in office. And Amano has pledged in the past to try and depoliticise the IAEA and its work.
On Thursday, Amano who had been competing against South African ambassador Abdul Samad Minty for the influential post scraped through to victory after six rounds of secret ballots with just enough votes for the two-thirds majority.
But under the agencys rules of procedure, his appointment had to be approved by acclamation at a second board meeting on Friday, this time open to all 146 IAEA member states.
Today, I was appointed as the next director general by acclamation, I mean by consensus, to serve for four years starting December 1, 2009, Amano announced.
The next and final hurdle will be the IAEAs general conference in September. And once it has given the green light, Amano will take over from ElBaradei when he steps down at the end of November.
The appointment process was long and protracted Amano previously failed to convince board members in a first formal vote back in March largely because the 35-member board is so deeply divided between the industrialised West and developing countries.
And the Japanese diplomat was largely seen as the preferred candidate of the West.
He insisted Friday that the director general is an independent person. I will continue to be independent from any group or any region. As the ballotting was secret, it is difficult to know what happened, but it seems to me that I got support from developed countries as well as developing countries. Otherwise its not possible to be elected, he said.
I would like to reflect the interests of all the regions, all the countries and all the groups. Asked what his priorities as agency head would be, Amano said there was no number one priority, but that technical cooperation, peaceful use of nuclear technology, non-proliferation, the assurance of nuclear fuel were all key issues facing the IAEA.
Turning to North Korea, which earlier this year expelled IAEA inspectors after international efforts to negotiate an end to Pyongyangs nuclear weapons programmes virtually collapsed, Amano said he sincerely hoped six-nation talks would resume. Dialogue was the only way for a solution, he said. I expect that the IAEA will be able to play an important role in verification of the nuclear issues of North Korea.