October 5, 2007
Give Iran Time to Come Clean
on Nuclear Issue: ElBaradei
Cairo
The chief of the UN nuclear watchdog has said that the international
community should give Iran more time to show that its nuclear
programme is peaceful.
"This situation, which might continue for two or three months, is an
investment in peace," Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Thursday in an interview with the
Egyptian daily al-Ahram.
On Wednesday, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said
he plans to meet with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in
the near future.
Speaking to EU lawmakers at the European Parliament, Solana said it
is necessary to give Iran a signal because time is limited, and
reiterated his hope that the dispute over Iran's nuclear issue could
be resolved by diplomatic means.
In mid-September, the six countries involved in talks to persuade
Iran to drop uranium enrichment delayed a vote on a new set of
sanctions against the Islamic Republic by November. The vote was
postponed pending reports from the IAEA and Solana.
The six nations involved in talks are the five permanent Security
Council members: China, the US, Russia, Britain and France plus
Germany.
France and the US have urged tougher penalties for Iran, which is
suspected of pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program. Tehran
insists it needs its own nuclear fuel for power generation and wants
to be independent from foreign supplies.
Iran has defied three consecutive UN resolutions against its nuclear
program since last year and has called two previously imposed rounds
of sanctions illegal.
However, since early-summer talks between Larijani and ElBaradei,
Tehran has allowed two inspections of its 40 MW heavy water nuclear
reactor in Arak, potentially capable of producing weapons-grade
plutonium. Permission was given despite Iran's refusal to grant
access to the site following the second set of sanctions in March.
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