WORLD / Middle East |
Iran says not to hide nuclear work(Xinhua)Updated: 2007-03-31 22:47 A top Iranian nuclear official said on Saturday that his country would not keep the disputed nuclear activities secret but continue to allow the UN atomic agency to monitor its program, the state radio reported.
"Inspection and cooperation (with the International Atomic Energy Agency) will continue and there's no change or suspension," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Tehran's representative to the IAEA, was quoted as saying.
"There's no problem, IAEA inspectors have supervised all Iranian nuclear activities, including enrichment work," he added.
Soltanieh dismissed earlier reports that Iran would refrain from sending information to the IAEA.
Since the UN Security Council passed a new sanction resolution against Tehran's nuclear and missile program, Iran has vowed to limit cooperation with the IAEA.
This measure would have impact on the subsidiary arrangements of the safeguards within Iran's cooperation with the IAEA, according to Iranian officials.
Iran said it had accepted these arrangements in 2002 and thereby it had "promptly informed" the IAEA of any decision to build new nuclear facilities.
By limiting its cooperation with these agreements, Iran would no longer inform the nuclear watchdog agency of new installations until six months before they are brought into service, said the officials.
The newly adopted UN Security Council Resolution 1747, cosponsored by Britain, France and Germany and incorporating some of the amendments proposed by Indonesia, Qatar and South Africa, urges Iran to suspend uranium enrichment work "without further delay."
The new sanctions, moderately harsher than those included in previous resolutions on the Iranian nuclear issue, call for a ban of Iranian arms exports, a freeze of assets of an additional 28 individuals and entities involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programs.
In the previous resolution adopted last December, the Security Council ordered all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs.
The new resolution asks the IAEA to report back in 60 days on whether Iran
has suspended enrichment work. |
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