Iran claims to have ‘fully’ cooperated with UN nuclear watchdog

Iran says it had “fully” cooperated with the UN nuclear watchdog in its probe into traces of enriched uranium found at undeclared sites.

The comment came after Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, yesterday expressed hopes that Iran would start cooperating “as soon as possible” with the investigation.

The IAEA has been pressing the Islamic Republic to explain the previous presence of traces of nuclear material at three undeclared sites.

Grossi said that “we have found traces of uranium in places that have never been declared, and we are asking questions.”

The spokesman for Iran’s nuclear agency, Behrouz Kamalvandi, says in a statement that “Iran has fully cooperated with the agency regarding the three sites.”

Tehran has “provided information and responses to the agency and held meetings (with the IAEA) to resolve any ambiguity,” adds the spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran.

Kamalvandi argues that “the mere observation of contamination in a few places cannot be considered as an indication of the presence of undeclared nuclear materials.”

The IAEA had said in a report last Wednesday that it was “not in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”