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| Mr Amano says there is information Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a bomb |
Iran. agency IAEA.UN. Mr Amano says...
The UN nuclear agency says it wants to send a high-level mission to Iran to address new fears that it may be seeking to build nuclear weapons.
The head of the UN nuclear agency, the IAEA, has proposed sending a high-level mission to Iran, to address new fears about a possible military dimension to the country's nuclear programme.
IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano said there was credible
information Iran had carried out activities relevant to the development
of a bomb.
He said there might be undeclared nuclear material and activities.
Tehran says its programme is for peaceful purposes.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's governing board has
been debating the latest report on Iran released last week in the
Austrian capital, Vienna, where it is based.
"Our technical experts have spent years painstakingly and
objectively analysing a huge quantity of information from a wide variety
of independent sources, including from a number of member states, from
the agency's own efforts and from information provided by Iran itself.
The agency finds the information to be, overall, credible," Mr Amano said in a statement.
"It is consistent in terms of technical content, individuals
and organisations involved, and timeframes. The information indicates
that Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a
nuclear explosive device."
He hoped a date for the visit would be agreed soon, he added.
The United States and its allies want to see stronger
sanctions imposed on Iran, but Russia believes the report contains no
new evidence - and could hurt the chances for diplomacy, says the BBC's
Bethany Bell in Vienna.
China says sanctions cannot resolve the issue.
'Accident'
On Wednesday, Iranian General Hassan Firouzabadi said that -
contrary to speculation - the US and Israel were not behind a weekend
munitions base blast that killed 17 Revolutionary Guards, including a
key ballistics missile expert.
"This recent incident and blast has no link to Israel or
America, but the outcome of the research, in which the incident happened
as a consequence, could be a strong smack to the mouth of Israel and
its occupying regime," Gen Firouzabadi was quoted as saying by the
student news agency Isna.
Iranian officials had previously said the accident happened
while munitions were being moved at the base, without linking it
directly to weapons research.
Brigadier General Hassan Moqaddam, who was considered a key
figure in Iran's missile programme, was the most senior casualty in the
incident.
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