US report will help 'defuse' Iran nuclear crisis: IAEA chief
VIENNA (AFP) — A US intelligence report saying Iran halted its push for nuclear weapons four years ago will help reduce tensions surrounding Tehran's contested nuclear programme, the head of the UN's atomic watchdog said Tuesday.
"This new assessment by the US should help to defuse the current crisis," the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, said in a statement.
The conclusions of the US report tally with the IAEA's own findings that there is "no concrete evidence of an ongoing nuclear weapons programme or undeclared nuclear facilities in Iran," ElBaradei said.
The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released in the United States on Monday said that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons drive in 2003 and that US charges about Tehran's atomic goals have been overblown for at least two years.
The consensus view of all 16 US spy agencies concluded that the programme was halted primarily in response to international pressure.
ElBaradei said he hoped the report would prompt Iran to "work actively" with the IAEA to clarify specific aspects of its past and present nuclear activities.
He also urged all parties to the nuclear dispute to enter into negotiations "without delay".
Ahead of the report's release, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States had been discussing US-led calls for a new Security Council sanctions resolution against Tehran which has refused to heed UN demands to suspend uranium enrichment.
Despite an intensive four-year investigation, the IAEA has been unable to confirm if the Iranian nuclear drive is peaceful or aimed at making nuclear weapons.
Iran denies Western charges that it seeks nuclear weapons and insists that its research is solely aimed at producing energy for civilian use.
The UN Security Council has passed two sanctions resolutions against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment and Washington recently slapped unilateral sanctions on Iran.
