UN Agency Applauds Iran Cooperation

30/01/2005| IslamWeb

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said yesterday he lacked useful intelligence on Iran's nuclear programme and urged states that accuse Tehran of seeking a bomb to provide the evidence. Mohammed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, voiced frustration at countries such as the US and Israel that charge Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran says its nuclear programme is purely for peaceful, civilian purposes. "There's a lot of talk about somebody believes that Iran has a nuclear weapons programme. We cannot work on the basis of belief, we have to work on the basis of fact," he said, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "If people have information on the basis of which they are coming to the conclusion that this is a weapons programme, I'd like very much for them to share with us," the Egyptian official said. Only the IAEA could verify such leads by visiting suspect sites and verifying nuclear activities, he said. In the absence of such evidence, the IAEA was doing its best through environmental sampling, satellite monitoring and on-site investigation to reconstruct Iran's two-decade-old covert nuclear programme. ElBaradei strongly backed the initiative by three European powers - Britain, France and Germany - to try to negotiate a deal under which Iran would end nuclear enrichment activities that could lead to a bomb in return for peaceful nuclear co-operation, trade and security benefits. He urged the US to get involved in the talks. **PHOTO CAPTION*** UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei speaks to reporters during a press conference in 2004. (AFP)