Amano claims Iran 'uncooperative'
Press TV - Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano has repeated claims that Iran is “uncooperative” in providing the agency with necessary data to prove that Tehran is not pursuing a military nuclear program, Press TV reports.
“The Agency (IAEA) continues to verify the non-diversion of nuclear material declared by Iran under its Safeguards Agreement,” Yukiya Amano said in a statement to the IAEA Board of Governors on Thursday.
“But, as Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation, including by not implementing its Additional Protocol, the Agency is unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material is in peaceful activities,” he added.
Amano is expected to address the media on the issue on Thursday afternoon.
On February 6, 2006, Iran's Majlis (parliament) suspended the Islamic Republic's voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol and all other voluntary and non-legally binding cooperation with the IAEA beyond what is required by its safeguards agreement over the interference of the UN Security Council in Iran's nuclear program.
Earlier, Iran's Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh said the Islamic Republic would not implement the Additional Protocol as long as the UNSC interfered in Iran's nuclear program.
Amano's latest claim comes after he recently released a report claiming that Iran was engaged in activities related to developing nuclear weapons.
The report was circulated among the 35 members of the IAEA Board of Governors last Tuesday, ahead of the seasonal meeting of the board, scheduled to be held in Vienna on November 17-18.
Iran has dismissed the report as "unbalanced, unprofessional and prepared with political motivation and under political pressure by mostly the United States."
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program and have used this pretext to push for the imposition of sanctions on the country as well as to call for a military attack on the country.
Iran strongly refutes the Western allegations and argues that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.