IAEA Rejects Certifying That Iran Cooperates on Nuclear Program

The United Nations atomic agency chief rejected calls from Iran for the UN to certify the Persian Gulf nation is cooperating with some nuclear verification measures.

The IAEA “is not in a position” to make such a declaration, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano said after a 40-minute meeting today in Vienna with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. Iran “is not meeting its obligations,” he said.

Salehi told reporters after the meeting that Iran is ready to work “closer than before” with IAEA inspectors if the agency acknowledges that the government in Tehran has fulfilled some nuclear verification measures.

Iran asked the IAEA to consider ways to break the nuclear deadlock that has resulted in four sets of UN Security Council sanctions against the country.

Iran has been the subject of IAEA inspections since 2003. The U.S. and Europe accuse the Iranian government of hiding nuclear-weapons work. Iran, with the world’s second-biggest natural gas reserves, insists that it is enriching uranium for nuclear power.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Tirone in Vienna at jtirone@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net