Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 14 /Trend/
The United States hopes the U.N. atomic watchdog will be more detailed about its concerns Iran is covertly developing nuclear missiles in a report due out next month, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Thursday, Reuters reported.
But it is too early to say if the report about Iran's uranium enrichment program could prompt Tehran's referral to the U.N. Security Council, Glyn Davies, the U.S. envoy to the watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters in Santiago on the first stop of a Latin American trip to study uses of nuclear power.
"We expect the IAEA to begin to get more explicitly into the issue of what is called the possible military dimensions of the Iranian nuclear program," Davies said. "I hope what we'll see from the IAEA is sort of a sharpening of the case."
"We'll see whether there's enough there for further action by the board of governors of the IAEA," referring to the possibility of reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council.
Sanctions against Iran are effective, Davies said, and have slowed the country's nuclear program.
The United States and its allies have urged IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano to declare plainly whether he believes there have been military aspects to Tehran's nuclear activities and whether such work may still be going on.
Such a move by the IAEA could raise pressure on Tehran and offer more arguments for Western powers to tighten sanctions on the major oil producer.
Early October, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano urged Iran to fully cooperate with the body to dispel doubts about the nature of its nuclear programme.
"Iran has not provided necessary cooperation to enable the agency to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities," said in a speech during a visit to Indonesia.
"I'm encouraging Iran to take steps forward for full implementation of its obligations in order to establish international confidence in the peaceful nature of their activities," he said.
Iranian nuclear program has caused concern since 2003, when the IAEA became aware of its concealed activity. In late 2003, Iran signed the Additional Protocol to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons and voluntarily announced about the suspension of uranium enrichment. However, it returned to this activity.
Refined uranium is used both to produce nuclear weapons and as fuel for nuclear power plants. 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.
Tehran's refusal to stop has provoked four rounds of U.N. sanctions and tighter U.S. and European Union restrictions.
President Barack Obama said on Thursday that an alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States will prompt Washington to apply the toughest possible sanctions to further isolate Tehran.
Edited by T.Konyayeva.