The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors on Friday passed a resolution on Iran, drafted by a group of international mediators, a diplomatic source said.
The resolution was passed by a 32-2 vote with one abstention.
The resolution, sponsored by the Iran Six, including Russia, the United States, China, Britain,France and Germany, urges Iran to provide access to its nuclear facilities for UN experts and cooperate with the IAEA.
The Iran Six has been trying since 2003 to convince Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment program.
Western powers and Israel suspect Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons.Iran denies this, saying its program is of a civilian nature. Speculation has been building that Israelis considering a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier on Friday IAEA experts might soon accept Tehran’s invitation to inspect Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Iran has twice sent letters to the IAEA inviting experts to visit its nuclear facilities, he said, adding that Moscow hopes that the Iran Six will meet with Iranian officials before the end of the year.
Russia has recently proposed a strategy for restoring trust in Iran’s nuclear program, which the Islamic Republic says is designed to generate civilian energy.
On Thursday, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said the information contained in the Agency’s latest report on the military dimension of Iran’s nuclear program is credible.
Amano said his report identified in detail the issues which Iran needs to address in order to restore international confidence in what it says is the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program.
The IAEA continues to verify the non-diversion of nuclear material declared by Iran under its Safeguards Agreement, Amano said.
“But, as Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation, including by not implementing its Additional Protocol, the Agency is unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities,” he said.
Meanwhile Iran will not heed a resolution adopted at the UN nuclear agency Friday which urged Iran to answer questions about a possible nuclear weapons programme, the country’s envoy said at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh said that the latest IAEA report which detailed indications for such a programme was ‘unprofessional, unbalanced, illegal and politicized.’
‘Any resolution on the basis of this report and with any reference to the former UN Security Council resolutions on Iran is not legally binding, thus they are not applicable,’ he said.
