Iran's
unwillingness to explain alleged nuclear weapons-related projects only
reinforces suspicions about past efforts to develop a nuclear bomb, the United States said at a meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog on Wednesday.
The US Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Gregory
Schulte, told the organization's Board of Governors that unanswered questions
"strongly suggest Iran has undertaken a significant state-sponsored effort
to develop nuclear weapons."
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei had said Monday it was "regrettable"
that the IAEA had not made the expected progress in clarifying possible
military projects concerning missiles, high explosives testing and nuclear
material production.
Iran would be served best by admitting its past nuclear weapons work and
allowing the IAEA to verify that it has been halted, Schulte told the 35-nation
board.
Like his European colleagues, he spoke in favour of a negotiated solution to
the Iranian nuclear issue.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to the UN, said on Tuesday in New York that EU chief diplomat Javier Solana would go to Tehran on June 14 to deliver an
upgraded incentive package to Iran as a new effort by the West to persuade Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.
"We hope this contact will be possible without further delay and that Iran
will respond positively to this substantial offer," the French Ambassador
to the IAEA, Francois-Xavier Deniau, told the board on behalf of Britain, France
and Germany.
Sources in Brussels confirmed that Solana's visit to Iran was imminent, but his
press office declined to confirm the date.
Together with the US, Russia and China, Britain, France and Germany have updated a package from 2006, offering cooperation in the nuclear field as well
as economic, political and security-related incentives.
Most countries represented on the IAEA board called on Iran on Wednesday to heed the UN Security Council's demands for halting its uranium
enrichment programme, diplomats said.
Iran was expected to deliver a response at the IAEA Board of Governors on
Thursday morning, dpa reported.