UN rejects Iran's call to close case

Mohamed ElBaradei singled out Tehran's failure last October to mention that it had designs for advanced centrifuges capable of producing highly enriched uranium for use in a nuclear reactor or, potentially, in an atomic weapon.

"I am seriously concerned that Iran's October declaration did not include any reference to its possession of P2 centrifuge designs and related R&D (research and development), which in my view was a setback to Iran's stated policy of transparency," ElBaradei said yesterday.

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He was addressing the board of governors of the UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as they opened a closed-door meeting which will consider how to proceed with Iran.

Iranian ambassador Pirooz Hosseini told reporters that Tehran was the victim of a "war of propaganda" and Iranian officials had been misquoted by the press last year as saying the October dossier was complete.

"At the time...we were not obliged to announce everything," he said, in remarks which contrasted with Iranian comments at the time.

Iran insists it is building a nuclear programme purely to generate electricity. The United States accuses Tehran of systematic deception and says it is bent on acquiring nuclear weapons.

ElBaradei urged Tehran to ensure full transparency and help restore international confidence by "taking the initiative to provide all relevant information in full detail and in a prompt manner".

A senior Iranian official said on Sunday that the IAEA should remove Iran from its agenda and confirm its innocence.

"The case concerning Iran's peaceful nuclear activities should be completely closed at the IAEA Board of Governors and removed from its agenda," Supreme National Security Council secretary Hassan Rohani said on state television.

But ElBaradei said the board would remove the issue from its agenda only when all its unresolved questions were answered.

"I think the issue will be removed from the agenda when we are done with all the issues that are outstanding," he said. The main issue is the nature of Tehran's enrichment programme and the origin of highly enriched uranium found by U.N. inspectors last year.

Revelations in recent weeks that a top Pakistani atomic scientist sold nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya have intensified international concern that "rogue states" or terrorists could get their hands on weapons of mass destruction.

ElBaradei himself has spoken of an extensive international network of black-market proliferators.