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ElBaradei: Iran is not a nuclear threat |
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Saturday, 31 March 2007 |
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said Iran is not a nuclear danger to the world.
Speaking to the Arabic-language television Al-Arabiya late on Thursday, Mohamed ElBaradei added, "The problem with Iran's nuclear case is that the country did not report its nuclear activities to the IAEA since it began its program 20 years ago."
"But, of course, Iran had reasons for not doing so and that was the sanctions imposed on the country," he said, "So at that time Iran could not reveal its nuclear program."
Considering as logical Iran's decision to hide its programs during those 20 years, ElBaradei however explained the difficulty the IAEA faced in proving that Iran's activities in all those years were not aimed at the development of nuclear weaponry.
"But during the inspections in recent years, we could not find any technical clue or specific evidence that shows Iran's program is of military nature," said the IAEA chief. "This is a significant achievement."
ElBaradei once again underlined that the only way to resolve the misunderstanding in the West over Iran's nuclear program was all-round negotiations, which in turn could lead to finding solutions to the regional security issues as well.
"War is not the solution; it is a disaster for the region. If another war breaks out, everything gets messed up," he added.
Head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency noted that any solution to Iran's nuclear case should be in line with the all-out resolution of the region's security issues.
"The only point about the UN Security Council resolutions against Tehran is conveying the message to Iranian officials that there is a concern over their future objectives. These (resolutions) are merely meant to ask Tehran to take confidence-building steps," ElBaradei told Al-Arabiya.
The IAEA chief said, "The international community, in particular the West, must make a clear distinction between the technical work done by the IAEA and the political evaluations made by the Security Council."
"Despite our explicit reports that there was no evidence of nuclear weapons in Iraq, they (the West) did not give us enough time to continue our inspections and the war began," he said.
"This time we hope the international community will pay attention to our views because there is still plenty of time for the IAEA to negotiate with Iran. The Agency's activities should not be exploited as a pretext to a probable military action," ElBaradei said.
"I, as the Agency's chief, am expected to have a magic wand. But this is not true about me. I may wish to inspect Israel's nuclear facilities right today. But, since many states such as Israel, Pakistan, India, and the U.S. have not signed the (nuclear Non-Proliferation) Treaty, I cannot do so," he noted.
The IAEA chief pointed out that an international nuclear regime which recognizes the right for a few states to have nuclear weapons on one hand and deprives the others of the same right cannot go on like this forever.
"Iranian negotiators are following a clear strategy and that is to keep the uranium enrichment option as a trump in hand," ElBaradei said, "to show that they have the power - like other states with nuclear arsenal - to develop nuclear weapons whenever they wish."
"We should pay attention to Iran's special position," he noted.
Comments posted are the sole opinion of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of AIM. |
