The head of the UN atomic watchdog called Monday for fresh guidance from member states on how to jumpstart its stalled probe into Iran’s suspected suspected nuclear weapons drive. The International Atomic Energy Agency “will continue to address the Iran issue through dialogue and in a constructive spirit”, Yukiya Amano told a closed-doors regular meeting of its 35-nation board of governors in Vienna. “The basic objective is to resolve all outstanding issues, in particular those related to possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme … The views of member states are of vital importance in finding a solution.” In a report sent to IAEA member states ahead of this week’s meeting, Amano said that after two fruitless trips to Iran by chief inspector Herman Nackaerts, on January 29-31 and February 20-21, “major differences” with Tehran remained. Iran turned down IAEA requests for the team to visit the Parchin military site near Tehran where a November agency report said suspicious high-explosives tests consistent with developing nuclear warheads were carried out, Amano said Monday. He said that Iran “provided an initial declaration” on issues raised by the November report, but “did not address the agency’s concerns in a substantive manner”. The new report also said Iran had substantially ramped up the enrichment of uranium, in defiance of multiple UN Security Council resolutions, to 20-percent purity. Uranium enriched to 90 percent can be used in a nuclear bomb. Western powers hoped to convince Russia and China to back a strong resolution by the IAEA board this week condemning Tehran, diplomats said. But with the board having already signed off at its last gathering in November on a resolution of “deep and increasing concern”, other members are not convinced that another such motion was necessary or useful. “We are still talking with our partners,” one Western diplomat told AFP. Instead, discussions are expected to focus on hopes for a resumption of talks between Iran and the P5+1 powers — the permanent members of the UN Security Council the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France plus Germany.
