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| IAEA: Iran Extends Nuclear Program |
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Iran still defied Resolution 1747 of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and expanded its uranium enrichment program, said the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the UNSC on Wednesday. The report was referred to the 35 member states of IAEA's Board of Governors, diplomats in IAEA told Xinhua. Iran on the same day dismissed the report as "devoid of any new points" and insisted there is no obstacle for the agency's inspections of its nuclear sites. Iran's permanent representative to the IAEA, Ali Soltanieh, said in Vienna, "the report of UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei on Iran's nuclear program is devoid of any new points." "Iran has not breached any of its international commitments, and that our activities have no deviation from peaceful objectives," he said. The IAEA report said that Iran's establishment in Natanz had fixed 1,300 centrifuges, three times more than the amount the IAEA learned about in February, and the other hundreds of centrifuges were still in test. Iran had informed the IAEA that it could churn out small amount of uranium enriched to 4.8 percent at present. Soltanieh said, "although Iran has pursued its enrichment activities, it has never created any obstacles in the way of the agency's inspections, or made any attempt aimed at delaying them, pursuing full cooperation with IAEA inspectors." The pendent problems about Iranian nuclear issues were still in the air, and the IAEA could neither grip and evaluate the fact of Iran's nuclear program, nor affirm Iran's peaceful intention, said the report. The diplomats in Vienna said that the United States and Britain would impel the UNSC to take much severer sanctions against Iran, if Iran defied the resolution of the Security Council. They believed that this report would reinflame a debate on the new resolution against Iran in the UN in coming weeks. According to media reports, ElBaradei said in a recent interview that in order to make progress, Iran might be allowed to develop limited research on uranium enrichment activities, with the precondition that Iran did not build the industrial productive system for uranium enrichment and would be subject to the strict inspection of the IAEA. The UNSC ratified Resolution 1747 on Iran's nuclear issues on March 24, which required Iran to implement Resolution 1737 without hesitation, and suspend all uranium enrichment activities with the verification of the IAEA. Resolution 1747 also required the IAEA to refer a report to the UNSC in 60 days on whether Iran complies with the resolution or not. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on Wednesday was quoted by the state television as saying that Iran continues to cooperate with the IAEA and abide by its commitment to carry out the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. (Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2007) |
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