By NNN-KUNA
Vienna : The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Dr Mohammad El-Baradei, has said that Iran’s nuclear programme represented no threat to the international community.
He said Monday that Iran had however failed, so far, to provide sufficient details to the IAEA on that programme and added that IAEA inspectors had failed, until now, to find any traces of banned radioactive material in Iran.
El-Baradei, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005, called on the international community to continue to seek ways to engage in a “constructive dialogue” with Tehran on all parts of its programme, specifically those that remained hidden.
He praised the memorandum of understanding the IAEA had concluded with Iran last month and indicated that the world should not jump to negative conclusions with Iran until the IAEA had exhausted its efforts with Tehran to resolve that issue peacefully.
He urged the Iranians to be more cooperative with the outside world about their nuclear programme, specifically with regard to uranium enrichment.
El-Baradei last week came under fire by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who called on him to interfere less with the diplomatic course followed by the US with regard to Iran and focus more on the technical side of the controversy with regard to the Iranian nuclear programme.