Amano Says Iran Probe Could Be Done by Year's End

Sat Jul 4, 2015 16:05:09

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano said in uncertain remarks that his organization might eventually prepare a report on allegations about possible military dimensions of Iran's past nuclear activities by the end of 2015.

Iran has repeatedly urged that it wants an IAEA report to announce final results of its investigations about the PMD allegation issue, reiterating that it does not want the PMD issue to remain open after a deal with the world powers.

"Iran has speed up its cooperation with the IAEA in the last two years to bring the PMD issue to a closure as fast as possible, but the nuclear watchdog has avoided report the removal of each of the ambiguities and questions"

During the last year Iran has removed 16 of the 18 questions and ambiguities that the IAEA has presented with regard to Tehran's peaceful nuclear activities, and the country has recently provided the needed answers and documents for the 17 point, AP reports.

Yukiya Amano's comments Saturday were in line with his statement the day before on return from talks in Tehran. On Friday, he suggested that a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has done little to advance his probe.

Iran has speed up its cooperation with the IAEA in the last two years to bring the PMD issue to a closure as fast as possible, but the nuclear watchdog has avoided report the removal of each of the ambiguities and questions that have been answered by Iran, in violation of the agency's initial agreement with Tehran.

The two sides had initially agreed that they would cooperate to remove any uncertainty about Iran's past nuclear activities item by item and would deal with the next item in their 18-point list only after the IAEA reports that it has been convinced by Iran's answers about the last item in the list and declare that the relevant ambiguity has been removed, FNA reports.

Yet, the PMD allegations against the country have remained a persistent point of difference between the two sides.

The accusations are based on alleged information derived from a laptop computer that Iran's armed opposition, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, PMOI and NCRI), claims to have stolen from Iranian nuclear scientists and later presented to the US spying agencies.

Amano, of the International Atomic Energy Agency , said Saturday that "more work will be needed" to kick-start the investigation — the same phrase he used Friday

The U.S. and its allies say the agency must deliver a ruling on the suspicions based on Iranian cooperation, as part of the overall nuclear deal now being negotiated.

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