UN chief: Ball is in Iran's court to solve nuclear stand-off

Feb 17, 2012, 14:41 GMT

Vienna - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday it is was up to Iran to show that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

His comments came shortly before senior officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, were due to travel to Iran on Sunday to seek answers about the country's nuclear weapons programme.

'To my mind, and to the mind of the IAEA, they have not been able to convince the international community,' he told reporters in Vienna, adding that he was 'deeply concerned' about indications that the Islamic state was working to develop a nuclear weapon.

'The onus is on the Iranian side to convince the international community that their nuclear development programme is genuinely for peaceful purposes,' he said.

IAEA chief nuclear inspector Herman Nackaerts and his team were scheduled to go to Iran for the second time in about three weeks, after their first trip ended with no concrete results.

A diplomat close to the IAEA said the agency 'would like to see a commitment from the Iranian leadership' that it is really willing to give the nuclear watchdog access to documents, officials and locations.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano reported late last year that there were numerous indications that Iran was carrying out projects geared to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran says it needs nuclear technology only for generating power and for other civilian purposes.

'Now he has to give Iran the opportunity to react positively to this report,' the diplomat said, indicating that the upcoming trip was not expected to yield a breakthrough.

Iran proposed this week to revive nuclear talks with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. Western diplomats in Vienna said the six powers were considering the proposal but want to make sure that any new talks would not end without results, as in previous rounds.

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