IAEA Chief Urges Swifter Cooperation From Iran

IAEA Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei (file photo) (CTK) 7 November 2005  -- The director of the UN's nuclear watchdog agency has urged Iran to cooperate more swiftly with monitors to answer outstanding questions regarding its nuclear program.

Muhammad el-Baradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a conference on nonproliferation in Washington today that his agency still has some key unanswered questions about the extent of Iran's uranium-enrichment program.

El-Baradei said he hoped Iran would allow his inspectors to visit the nuclear site at Lavizan, near Tehran. Lavizan is the only declared nuclear site that the IAEA has not inspected in Iran.

He also said there are signs of progress with Iran, including the recent visit of IAEA inspectors to the nuclear site at Parchin.

El-Baradei added that IAEA is getting access to sites that are beyond Iran's treaty obligations, and he added the more transparency that Iran can show, the better.

(AFP)


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