TEHRAN, 30 August 2004 — Iran has answered all “serious questions” about its nuclear activities but says some “marginal problems” could arise when the International Atomic Energy Agency meets next month, a spokesman said yesterday.
“The serious questions have all been responded to and there is no more ambiguity,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters two weeks before the next meeting of the UN watchdog.
Asefi said the next IAEA report due to be released in the coming days would also note “progress” in the work of inspectors currently probing the Islamic republic’s nuclear activities. “We are virtually sure that the agency’s report will not provide any pretext for the case to be referred to the (UN) Security Council,” Asefi said.
The United States, which accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons under cover of generating atomic power, wants the Islamic regime to be declared in breach of the nuclear NPT and referred to the council for possible sanctions.
Iran says it is not interested in nuclear arms, and is only trying to meet future energy needs. Nevertheless, Asefi said that “prior experience has shown that before a meeting (of the IAEA), certain marginal problems can surface.”
One potential problem, he said, was that of a military site at Lavizan — which aroused suspicion after satellite photos showed Iran had razed the site and removed topsoil. Results from IAEA inspections there are also expected soon, although Iran has said the site was not part of it nuclear activities. It said it was merely clearing the site to make a public park.
