Iran offers new cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-17 09:27

VIENNA: Iranian nuclear energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi said he had agreed new measures of cooperation with UN inspectors during talks yesterday with the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The IAEA did not comment immediately on the deal which coincides with a diplomatic thaw between Iran and world powers, signaled by a plan for talks on October 1, and which was prompted by rising concern about Iran's drive for nuclear capability.

Salehi declined to say what the new cooperation entailed but said it would not cover the IAEA's probe into intelligence reports suggesting Iran covertly researched nuclear weapon designs. Iran has said the reports are fabricated and the issue is closed.

Last month, Iran agreed to longstanding IAEA demands for tighter surveillance of its rapidly expanding Natanz uranium enrichment plant and restored some access to a heavy-water reactor of proliferation concern.

But the IAEA has called for more far-reaching transparency from Iran to defuse mistrust around its nuclear ambitions, including snap inspections ranging beyond Teheran's declared nuclear sites to verify that no secret work devoted to "weaponizing" nuclear know-how is going on.

Iran has said it is enriching uranium only for electricity, not to perfect means to fuel atom bombs as the West fears.

Iran has agreed to wide-ranging talks with six world powers, likely to be held in Turkey. It has ruled out discussing its own nuclear activities, but Salehi said on Monday the powers could still raise any question they wished at the talks.

Reuters