IAEA praises Iran's way to submit report on nuke program

Iran's declaration of its nuclear program will facilitate the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s assessment of the correctness and completeness of the information already provided by the country on its past and present nuclear activities, an IAEA statement said Saturday.

The statement said the declaration under an additional protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty should provide broader information about the country's nuclear activities.

The more than 1,000-page report was submitted on Friday to the IAEA by Pirooz Hosseini, Iranian ambassador to the United Nations. It is the second one after Iran handed over a report on its nuclear program last October.

The IAEA statement said IAEA Director-General Mohamed El Baradei will deliver an assessment report to the organization's 35-nation Board of Governors late this month. The IAEA Board of Governors will meet here on June 14 to assess his report.

An IAEA spokeswoman said Friday that it was untrue and wrong to say the IAEA could not complete an evaluation of Iran's nuclear program in time. She said the agency is carrying out inspections under its plan.

Most of the IAEA inspectors have reportedly fulfilled their work in Iran and left the country, and only one or two inspectors are still in Iran to help the country complete its dossier to the IAEA.

The IAEA Board of Governors approved a resolution in March, criticizing Iran for failing to report parts of its nuclear programs. Later, Iran asked IAEA inspectors to return there to continue their tasks.

In April, ElBaradei traveled to Iran, urging the country to continue to cooperate with the IAEA. Source: Xinhua