The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday admitted wrongly accusing Iran of withholding information from a probe of its nuclear program but insisted Tehran still must fully explain its activities.
The issue threatened to delay action on a new resolution rebuking Iran for its spotty record cooperating with an agency investigation of what had been nearly two decades of secret nuclear activity until revealed two years ago.
The text is meant to keep pressure on Tehran. Apparently delayed by the side issue of the false accusation against Iran, the draft now was unlikely to be submitted to the 35-nation IAEA board of governors meeting before Friday, The AP reported.
The draft is based on a report, written by IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei, that is critical of Iran for what it claims is withheld or contradictory information on nearly two decades of covert nuclear activities discovered only two years ago.
On Thursday, ElBaradei acknowledged his agency had erred in not noting one of is inspectors was informed about the purchase of 150 magnets.
But he said Iran actually had asked a black market supplier about the possibility of buying "100,000" magnets. "How would that square with an R and D (research and development) program?" he asked.
He told reporters that the "lack of clarity" on Iran's part on its P-2 centrifuge program and other suspect actives continued to hamper his agency's probe.
On Iran's true nuclear ambitions, "we still have no concrete proof that this has a military dimension but we are still are not in a position to say that this is exclusively for peaceful purposes," ElBaradei said, urging Iran for more "proactive cooperation (and) transparency." (albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
