Nuclear chief calls for 'full transparency' from Iran

The chief of the UN nuclear agency pressed Iran today to come clean with “full transparency” on uranium enrichment and other evidence that could point to a covert atomic weapons programme.

In a statement to the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran has been showing increased cooperation, but that his experts still do not have enough information to determine the nature of Tehran’s nuclear activities.

“I would urge Iran in the coming weeks to show proactive and accelerated cooperation, and to demonstrate full transparency by providing the agency with a complete and accurate declaration of all its nuclear activities,” ElBaradei said.

“Much urgent and essential work still remains to be completed before the agency can draw conclusions,” ElBaradei cautioned.

Some of the information Iran recently has handed over is “piecemeal” or “inconsistent with that given previously,” he said without elaborating.

The IAEA’s 35 nation board of governors, meeting at the agency’s Vienna headquarters, was expected to urge Iran to make its nuclear programme accessible by agreeing to allow more intrusive inspections without notice.

“Iran should move rapidly” toward signing the measure, ElBaradei said, adding: “The more transparency that is provided, the more assurance we can give.”

The outcome, he said, “will have major implications for the non-proliferation regime” worldwide.

Iran, however, has been warning the United States and others not to push for too much too soon, warning that nuclear tensions could grow if it is handed an ultimatum on opening its programs to full outside examination.

Iran’s delegate, Ali Akbar Salehi, said before the meeting that Tehran remained open to negotiating the inspection issue with the IAEA, but indicated the offer could be withdrawn if this week’s board review “disrupted the whole process.”

“We are sitting on a very thin edge,” Salehi said. “It could tilt one way or the other very easily.”

The United States accuses Iran of working on a secret nuclear weapons programme and a recent confidential IAEA report said traces of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium were found at an Iranian nuclear facility.

The report also said Iran was conducting tests that experts say make little sense unless the country was pursuing nuclear weapons.

Tehran insists its nuclear programs are for generating electricity and says its equipment was “contaminated” with enriched uranium by a previous owner.