IAEA report proves peaceful nature of nuclear program, Iran says

Jun 6, 2009, 12:16 GMT

Tehran - The latest report by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei proved once again that Iran's nuclear progrommes were solely for civil and peaceful purposes, Iran's representative at the IAEA in Vienna said Saturday.

Ali Ashgar Soltanieh told state television that there was no proof of any secret military programme, and hence the 'report once again confirmed the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear projects.'

The envoy added that Iran would neither suspend its nuclear work nor its cooperation with the IAEA.

According to the IAEA report released Friday, the UN nuclear watchdog has not made any headway on solving outstanding issues on Iran's nuclear programme, while the country continues with work at its uranium enrichment centre.

In his latest report issued to IAEA member states, ElBaradei said that as of May 31, Iran had 4,920 uranium enrichment centrifuges running at its plant in Natanz, up from 3,936 such machines operating in February.

In addition, Iran has now produced 1,339 kilogrammes of low- enriched uranium, 33 per cent more compared with the figure given in the last report in February.

The United Nations Security Council has passed a series of sanctions against Tehran, trying in vain to pressure the country to halt the enrichment facility which could theoretically produce material for nuclear weapons.