IAEA boss set to defend Iran progress

The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief is set to urge full backing for an Iran transparency plan at an agency governors meeting on Thursday after Western powers said Tehran must do more to allay fears about its atomic agenda.

Whether a new International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran’s compliance with a pledge to clarify past secret nuclear work to the IAEA is cause for new hope or further scepticism will be debated by the agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors.
It will be a matter of interpretation. Western board members will dwell on Iran’s defiant campaign to enrich uranium despite the transparency plan, diplomats said, while developing nations will highlight Iranian steps towards openness and warn against rising Western pressure they feel could undo the process.

The West fears Iran is covertly trying to build atom bombs. Iran says it wants only to produce electricity from uranium enrichment.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, concerned by U.S.-led criticism of the plan’s limitations and resolve to isolate Iran with harsher sanctions, is likely to stress the plan is on track and warrants full support, a U.N. official said.

“He’s likely to say that whatever the imperfections, the plan is proceeding according to schedule and the timeline to resolve outstanding questions by around the end of the year remains realistic,” the official told Reuters.

Reuters