Iran is not co-operating with the UN nuclear watchdog’s investigation into the country’s nuclear programme, the new head of the agency has said.
Iran’s insistence its nuclear programme was peaceful could not be confirmed, Yukiya Amano told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.
Mr Amano is taking a more critical line than his predecessor, analysts say.
The news is likely to strengthen calls for sanctions on Iran. Iran’s foreign minister has rejected Mr Amano’s claim.
“The agency continues to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran, but we cannot confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities because Iran has not provided the agency with the necessary co-operation,” Mr Amano said.
He was speaking at a 35-nation board meeting of the IAEA in Vienna, the first since he took over as the head of the organisation in December.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki rejected Mr Amano’s statement.
“We have fully co-operated with the agency. This co-operation will continue,” he told journalists.
Sanctions call
The BBC’s Bethany Bell in Vienna says Mr Amano’s address, and a report leaked earlier this month, are much more critical of Iran than the IAEA had been under its former head, Mohamed ElBaradei.
