IAEA says in new report it has “serious concerns about possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme”.
By Al Jazeera – November 8, 2011
The IAEA called on Iran to engage with the agency without delay for the purpose of providing clarifications [EPA].
The UN nuclear watchdog has expressed concern about Iran’s nuclear activities in a new report in which it details what it calls “credible” information that Tehran may have worked on developing nuclear weapons.
In the report, published on Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said: “The agency has serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme.
“After assessing carefully and critically the extensive information available to it, the agency finds the information to be, overall, credible.
“This information indicates that Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device.”
The agency also said that its information revealed that “prior to the end of 2003, these activities took place under a structured programme, and that some activities may still be ongoing.”
The Vienna-based agency said it possessed information on Iran’s work “on the development of an indigenous design of a nuclear weapon including the testing of components.”
The IAEA, whose board could decide to report Tehran to the UN Security Council again next week, called on Iran “to engage substantively with the agency without delay for the purpose of providing clarifications.”
Iran, which diplomats said had seen an advance copy of the report, said on Tuesday that the West had no proof it was developing nuclear weapons, with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declaring that Tehran did not even need the bomb.
“The West and the United States are exerting pressure on Iran without serious arguments and proof,” Ali Akbar Salehi, the Iranian foreign minister, said on a visit to Armenia.
The report comes amid rising speculation that Israel might launch a pre-emptive military strike in an attempt to knock out Iranian nuclear facilities.
Russia criticised the report, saying it would reduce hopes for dialogue with Tehran and suggesting it was aimed to scuttle the chances for a diplomatic solution.
“We have serious doubts about the justification for steps to reveal contents of the report to a broad public, primarily because it is precisely now that certain chances for the renewal of dialogue between the ‘sextet’ of international mediators and Tehran have begun to appear,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Russia and China had jointly pressured the IAEA not to even publish the report, diplomats in Vienna said.
Iran, which says its nuclear programme is peaceful and which has been hit by four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions, dismissed the new IAEA report prior to its publication, saying it was based on falsified information.
Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington DC, said: “This is a report the US wanted the IAEA come out with.
“We expect the Obama adminisntration to use this report in the international stage to impose stricter sanctions…but to get that, they need China and Russia to get on board.”
Attribution Policy
All original material on Al Jazeera Blogs (blogs.aljazeera.net) is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
This means you are welcome to use, distribute and share our blog posts, but we ask that you give us credit for it, don’t try to make money off of it, or alter the originally-published work.
Please note: Some images and video used on Al Jazeera Blogs are sourced from other individuals or agencies. In this case, you will need permission to republish them from their creators, as they may have different copyright terms.
