Iran nuclear head hopes talks will clear doubts
Date: 03-Jul-03
Country: RUSSIA
Author: Ron Popeski
International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei is to visit Iran on July 9 after the agency criticised Tehran last month for failing to report its atomic activities fully.
Gholamreza Aghazadeh, speaking after three days of meetings in Moscow, said he had no objections to international calls for Tehran to agree to tougher inspections of its sites, which include a power station being built by Russia.
But he made no commitment to signing an additional protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty prohibiting transfer or weapons technology and called for clarification of the IAEA's obligations to his country.
"It is therefore vital to hold talks with the secretary general of the IAEA on transparency and we will discuss this issue," Aghazadeh said.
"We want to clarify the IAEA's guarantees and obligations to Iran...The propaganda campaign directed against Iran is incorrect and out of place. Our activity is perfectly clear."
Washington accuses Tehran of using the programme to conceal efforts to produce nuclear weapons and -- along with Russia, the United Nations and the European Union -- has urged Tehran to sign the additional protocol. Iran says sanctions barring the transfer of technology to Tehran must first be lifted.
Iran, he said, had been one of the first states to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty in the 1970s and a separate document setting out international oversight of its programme.
"A country which is a signatory to all these treaties can have no negative view of an additional protocol," he said. "...The position of Iran is clear. We view the signature of the additional protocol as a critical issue."
BUSH THANKS PUTIN OVER IRAN
U.S. President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he was pleased at progress with Russia in putting pressure on both Iran and North Korea, which has threatened to develop nuclear arms.
Bush said he thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin during a 15-minute telephone conversation "for keeping the pressure on the Iranian government to dismantle any notions they might have of building a nuclear weapon".
In Vienna, a diplomat said the IAEA had asked Iran for information on two undeclared sites that an exile opposition group said were future uranium enrichment plants.
"The IAEA has requested information on these sites," the diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The diplomat declined to say whether the IAEA was hoping to inspect the sites when a team of inspectors arrives in Iran next week.
Last month, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled Iranian opposition group, said there were two heavily guarded uranium enrichment plants hidden behind trees in villages near Karaj, the centre of Iran's missile industry.
ElBaradei said last month he planned to visit Tehran for discussions on Iran's uranium enrichment programme and to conduct more environmental sampling. Among the issues to be raised is Iran's refusal to let the agency take samples at a company where parts for centrifuges are made. (Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau in Vienna)