IAEA urges Iran to come clean on nuke studies
The UN atomic watchdog called on Iran yesterday to clear up allegations that it had been involved in nuclear warhead studies, while Tehran protested it has not seen any evidence backing up the charges.
Instead of simply dismissing the allegations as "forged" and "fabricated", Iran "should clarify the extent to which the documentation is factually correct and where, as it asserts, such information may have been fabricated or relates to non-nuclear purposes," IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said.
Iran should provide "substantive information to support its statements and access to relevant documentations and individuals," ElBaradei told the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member board.
In a report last week, ElBaradei had accused Iran of stalling an UN investigation into its disputed nuclear programme.
After six years of intensive investigation, the IAEA still has not been able to determine whether the activities are entirely peaceful, as Iran claims.
The current main sticking point is the "alleged studies", referring to documentation found on a laptop in Iran which suggests Tehran may have been trying to develop a nuclear warhead, convert uranium and test high explosives and a missile re-entry vehicle.
Iran has consistently dismissed the allegations as "baseless" and the documentation used to back them up as "fabricated".
But the IAEA insists the onus is on Tehran to disprove the allegations.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, complained that Iran had not been allowed to see any of the documentation supposedly backing up the allegations.
"How come we can question a country without giving authentic documents? A member state is accused by another member state, but that member state has not been given any documents or evidence," he said.
It was Washington, not Tehran, that had created the current impasse, Soltanieh said.
ElBaradei also urged "member states which provided the agency with documentation related to the alleged studies to authorise the agency to share it with Iran."
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