IAEA chief urges Iran, Syria to resolve outstanding nuclear issues

Chief of the UN nuclear watchdog Monday urged Iran and Syria to fulfil their obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in order to dispel suspicions about their nuclear intentions.

Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), presented his latest reports on the two countries' nuclear programs at the opening of the agency's week-long board meeting.

While introducing the quarterly report on the Iranian nuclear issue, Amano said the IAEA had "received further information related to possible past or current undisclosed nuclear-related activities that seem to point to the existence of possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program."

Amano called on Iran to "take steps toward the full implementation of all relevant obligations in order to establish international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program."

The West suspects Iran's uranium enrichment may be meant for producing nuclear weapons, which has been flatly denied by Iranian officials.

On the Syria report, Amano said the IAEA has come to the conclusion that Syria's Dair Alzour facility, bombed by Israel in 2007, was "very likely" to be an unfinished nuclear reactor, which should have been declared to the agency under its NPT obligations.

Syria has maintained that the Dair Alzour site was a non-nuclear military installation and, due to this nature of the site, it has no obligation to provide more information to the IAEA.

"It was in no one's interest to let this situation drag on indefinitely," Amano told the 35-nation board, adding he was confident about the IAEA conclusion.

He also said he looked forward to engaging further with Syria to resolve outstanding nuclear issues.

Some Western countries are pushing for an IAEA resolution against Syria, aiming at referring the issue to the UN Security Council, which may lead to sanction measures.

Source: Xinhua

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