IAEA: Iran in breach of nuclear agreement

Al-Baradei’s IAEA said Iran is trying to rectify the situation

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) diplomat quoted an unpublished report on Friday as saying that Iran did not meet its obligations under the agreement.

 

The report was referring to obligations “with respect to the reporting of nuclear material, the subsequent processing and use of that material and the declaration of facilities where that material was stored and processed”, the diplomat said.

 

The report explained that the quantities were not large and that steps were being taken to bring Iran into compliance with its safeguards agreement, according to the diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

 

Last month, the media reported that IAEA chief Mohamed al-Baradei would tell the agency’s Board of Governors on 16 June that Iran had committed minor violations of the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

 

But the diplomat said the word “violation” did not appear in the text of the IAEA report.

 

Safeguards agreements with the IAEA aim at ensuring that nuclear materials and facilities in NPT member states are not used to develop secret nuclear weapons programmes.

 

It was unclear what the nuclear material was and how exactly it was processed.

 

The IAEA declined to comment on the quote from the report when contacted by Reuters.

 

The United States has accused Iran of violating the NPT, saying it has ambitions of developing nuclear weapons.

 

Iran maintains that its nuclear programme aims at generating electricity for its growing population.

 

But unnamed diplomats have said they suspect Iran may possess undeclared uranium.

 

They have also said that the Islamic republic may have tested its uranium-enrichment systems using this nuclear material without telling the IAEA.

 

If that was the case, the diplomats said, then Iran would probably be in violation of the NPT.

 

Last month, The New York Times reported that the United States was putting pressure on IAEA member nations to consider Iran a violator of the NPT in their 16 June meeting.