No Evidence Iran Making Nuclear Arms, ElBaradei Says

The International Atomic Energy Agency has found nothing over the last six months to support U.S. suspicion that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 15).

“On Iran, there really hasn’t been much development, neither as a result of our inspections or as a result of intelligence,” he said.

He praised France, Germany and the United Kingdom for reaching a temporary agreement for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, and for continuing talks with Tehran.

“If I look at the big picture, there is no enrichment in Iran, and this is quite satisfactory, and I hope it keeps this way until we reach [a permanent] agreement,” he said.

“I don’t think the Iranian issue will be resolved without the United States putting fully its weight behind the Europeans,” he added (Linzer/Kessler, Washington Post, Feb. 16).

Meanwhile, Iranian Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi today acknowledged reports that Washington is flying unmanned surveillance aircraft over Iran, the Associated Press reported.

“Most of the shining objects that our people see in Iran’s airspace are American spying equipment used to spy on Iran's nuclear and military facilities,” he said.

 “Our nuclear activities are open and very transparent. Our military activities are all legal” (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press/Billings Gazette, Feb. 16).

Elsewhere, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi yesterday warned the European powers they must offer more economic and technological support to reach an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, AP reported.

“It needs more efforts, more seriousness, more confidence building to be evaluated as a fruitful and positive process,” he said after talks with the Luxembourg government, which holds the European Union presidency.

Kharazi also called for more European openness on economic and political issues, according to AP (Raf Casert, Associated Press/PhillyBurbs.com, Feb. 16).

Top Iranian nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani is scheduled to arrive in Russia tomorrow for a two-day visit, Agence France-Presse reported.

“The purpose of Rohani’s visit is to conduct talks on Russian-Iranian relations and on problems of international security,” the Russian security council’s press service was quoted by Interfax as saying yesterday (Agence France-Presse, Feb. 15).

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