The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano on Monday announced plans to publish new information backing up his belief that Iran may be working on a nuclear warhead - developments that leave his organization "increasingly concerned," The Washington Post reported with reference to the Associated Press.
It was the first time Amano revealed plans to release some of the most recent knowledge available to the IAEA leading to such worries.
Speaking at the start of a five-day meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board, Amano also had some positive words for Iran, saying it had demonstrated "greater transparency" than usual, in allowing a senior IAEA official to tour previously restricted nuclear sites last month.
At the same time, Amano urged the Islamic Republic to show more openness on other nuclear issues of concern. The agency, he said, "continues to receive new information" about Iranian attempts to develop a nuclear warhead, adding that he hoped "to set out in greater details the basis for the agency's concerns" in the near future.
Amano had already said he was "increasingly concerned" about possible warhead experiments by Iran in a report made available to The Associated Press earlier this month, when it was also shared with board members and the U.N. Security Council.
The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has denied the charges, saying its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity and producing isotopes to treat medical patients.
The United Nations has imposed four rounds of Security Council sanctions over Tehran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or materials for an atomic bomb.