Iran Says It Does Not Object to Tough IAEA Inspections
VOA News
30 Sep 2003, 05:25 UTC
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi says his government does not object in principle to tougher inspections of its nuclear program by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In a speech at Columbia University in New York Monday, Mr. Kharazi said Tehran wants to be "transparent" and would agree to the additional inspection protocol it is currently discussing with the IAEA. But he said the protocol should also allow Iran to continue efforts to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
The IAEA has given Iran until the end of October to show it does not have a nuclear weapons program. Meanwhile, Iran's representative to the IAEA, Ali Akbar Salehi, acknowledged that traces of highly enriched uranium had been found at a second site in Iran. But he said the material must have come from elsewhere.
Mr. Salehi said Monday international inspectors and local officials were surprised by the discovery at the Kalaye Electric Company near Tehran. He said it takes many centrifuges a long time to produce highly enriched uranium that can be used in nuclear weapons, adding that there has not been that type of activity in Iran.
Earlier this year, international inspectors reported finding traces of highly enriched uranium at a facility in Natanz, south of Tehran. The Iranian government said that material must have come into Iran on equipment purchased from another country.
The United States has accused Iran of using its civilian nuclear power program as a cover for developing nuclear weapons. The European Union is also calling on Iran to unequivocally renounce any ambition to develop nuclear weapons.
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