UN: No assurance Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful

The watchdog entrusted with assuring the world that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful, admits it cannot actually make that guarantee.

By: AP and World Israel News Staff

Iran is reducing its nuclear activities under a deal with six world powers, but a senior UN official says he cannot guarantee that everything it is doing is peaceful.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano spoke Thursday to the IAEA’s 35-nation board.

Amano says he is “not in a position to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran,” and thus cannot conclude that “all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.”

Amano has made similar comments in the March.

His comments reflect IAEA constraints on monitoring Iran. But Amano said Tehran will soon enact an agreement giving his agency greater inspection powers.

Iran says it does not want nuclear arms but has committed to nuclear program cuts under a deal, in return for the removal of crippling economic sanctions.

However, reports have repeatedly resurfaced that Iran is concealing its previous illicit nuclear operations, while working to maintain and even expand its nuclear program.

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