By Xinhua
Cairo : The U.S. envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Gregory Schulte has called on Iran to unveil its nuclear program in order to build necessary confidence, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported on Tuesday.
Schulte made the call in a lecture at the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs in Cairo on Monday night.
He said Iran had been designing nuclear arms and developing a secret nuclear enrichment program until 2003, demanding Tehran allow IAEA inspectors to make sure the country has stopped its nuclear activities.
The U.S. diplomat said this will make the IAEA in a better position in terms of understanding the current activities and monitoring Tehran’s commitment to its pledges regarding guarantees.
Schulte expressed the U.S. support to IAEA director general and international inspectors’ efforts to find solutions to outstanding problems as Iran adopts selective cooperation policy in an attempt to hinder international action.
However, he termed the success of the IAEA inspection as in the hands of Iran.
In a speech to tens of thousands of Iranians at a rally in Tehran to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday vowed to continue his country’s nuclear program and said world powers could just “play with papers,” apparently brushing off possible new UN sanctions.
On Saturday, the UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed El Baradei said that the IAEA has been making “good progress” to solve Iran’s nuclear crisis, urging western nations to start direct negotiations with Iran, instead of using sanctions and military threats, to solve the crisis.
Western countries accused Iran of using a civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons, a charge repeatedly denied by Tehran.
The UN Security Council has adopted two resolutions — one in December 2006 and the other in March of 2007 — in attempts to force Iran to suspend uranium enrichment activities and to give up its nuclear programs.
World powers last month agreed the outline of a third sanctions resolution against Iran. But the Islamic republic has downplayed the effect of possible new sanctions, saying Tehran would show a “serious and logical reaction” if the UN Security Council issue a third resolution.