Tehran, September 07: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will convene in a few hours’ time for its traditional September meeting which will focus on Iran’s nuclear program.
The body’s 35-nation board of governors is scheduled to discuss the nuclear watchdog’s latest report on its six-year investigation into Iran’s program at the week-long meeting on Monday.
The UN nuclear watchdog in its latest report confirmed that Iran has improved its cooperation with the agency and that the IAEA had been able to continue to “verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material” in the country.
Western countries, spearheaded by the US and Israel, accuse Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of seeking nuclear weapons through its enrichment program.
The six major world powers have called on Iran to halt its uranium enrichment activities in exchange for certain political and economic incentives.
Tehran, however, denies the charges saying that the nuclear activities are peaceful and aimed at producing fuel for its nuclear power plants to meet the country’s growing demand for electricity.
In an interview with the Chicago-based magazine Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists published on Tuesday, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei dismissed the claims and said what some countries called the threat from Iran ‘has been hyped’ in many ways.
—–Agencies