Iran ‘truthful’ on its nuclear history

A REPORT from the UN nuclear watchdog agency yesterday found Iran to be generally truthful about key aspects of its nuclear history, but warned its knowledge of Tehran’s atomic work was shrinking.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report also confirmed Tehran continued to defy the UN Security Council by ignoring its repeated demands to freeze uranium enrichment, a potential pathway to nuclear arms.

The US said it would continue to push for a third round of UN sanctions against Iran despite the findings.

“We believe that selective co-operation is not good enough,” said White House press secretary Dana Perino.

She said the report indicated Iran has not suspended its enrichment- related activities.

“Iran continues to walk away from a deal that has been offered to them. We said they can have a civil nuclear program if they’ll just suspend their current activities,” she said.

But top Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili said the report shows new sanctions would be “illegal action”, adding Iran has answered all the questions by the IAEA and made “good progress” in cooperating with it.

In light of the IAEA report, “many accusations are now baseless”, said Mr Jalili, referring to US assertions that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons.