Rome, Sep 21 (Xinhua) Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has said that Iran does not currently pose an immediate threat to the international community.
“Iran does not constitute a certain and immediate threat to the international community,” the UN nuclear chief said Thursday in an interview with Italian RAI television while in Italy for an IAEA conference.
ElBaradei made the remarks amid rising international tension regarding the nuclear deadlock with Teheran.
However, the director of the UN nuclear watchdog also called for efforts to push forward dialogue, saying that a delay in talks could result in negative consequences.
The US and France have called for a tougher stand in the dispute with Iran over its uranium enrichment program, which the US and its allies suspect is the first step in an effort to acquire an atomic bomb.
France Thursday called on its European partners to take their own economic measures against Iran while working to secure new UN sanctions at the same time.