U.N. Nuclear Watchdog: No progress over past year

            On November 5, United Nations nuclear chief Yukiya Amano announced that his agency “cannot conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.” Talks between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency since November 2011 have not delivered “concrete results,” he said in the annual report to U.N. General Assembly. Last year, the United Nations received credible information indicating that Iran had carried out activities related to weapons production. But inspectors have not been granted adequate access to nuclear facilities to verify that claim. The following are excerpts from Yukiya Amano’s statement to the U.N. General Assembly.

            In the case of Iran, the Agency continues to verify that nuclear material declared by Iran under its Safeguards Agreement is not being diverted from peaceful purposes.
 
            However, Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation to enable us to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities. Therefore, we cannot conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.
 
            Last November, I reported that the Agency had credible information indicating that Iran had carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device. I requested Iran to clarify these issues.
 
            Dialogue has been intensified between the IAEA and Iran this year. However, no concrete results have been achieved so far.
 
            In September, the Board of Governors adopted a resolution urging Iran to immediately conclude, and implement, an agreement with the IAEA on a structured approach for resolving outstanding issues related to possible military dimensions to its nuclear programme.
 
            The Agency is firmly committed to intensifying dialogue with Iran. We will continue negotiations with Iran on a structured approach. I hope we can reach agreement without further delay.

Click here for the full statement.