IAEA declares Pak nuclear program as safe

Islamabad, April 26: The International Atomic Energy Agency has declared Pakistan's nuclear program as safe and secure.

Talking on the sidelines of the “International seminar on nuclear safety and security” held in Islamabad from 21-23 April, IAEA Deputy Director General Denis Flory said that the agency emphasizes the importance of national responsibility for security, which Pakistan takes seriously.

In fact, Pakistan has had an Action Plan in place to strengthen nuclear security since 2006, The Nation quoted Flory, as telling a news agency.

Giving details of Pakistan’s Nuclear Security Action Plan (NSAP), he said that it covers items such as the Management of Radioactive Sources, Nuclear Security Emergency Co-ordination Center (NuSECC) and Locating and Securing Orphan Radioactive Sources.

Pakistan has worked with the IAEA both to implement that plan and to provide resources for its implementation, he maintained.

Flory also said that the IAEA has worked with Pakistan to provide detection instruments, to give “on the job training” to Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) staff, and to improve security at a number of Pakistani facilities using radioactive sources.

When asked about the future of the nuclear industry in the light of the Fukushima incident in Japan, Flory said that this industry’s future is not written down.

Source: New Kerala.
Link: http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-196920.html.

IAEA establishes nuclear fuel bank

Fri, 03 Dec 2010

Vienna - Member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) decided Friday to set up a reserve system for nuclear power reactor fuel that is to be under full control of the Vienna- based organization.

A similar fallback system was established jointly by Russia and the IAEA last year, aimed at countries that are denied nuclear material shipments for political reasons by their supplier countries.

The new fuel bank was set up to provide additional backup not tied to any single country, diplomats said.

The concept of fuel banks has been floated in past years, in reaction to Iran's insistence that it needs to enrich uranium because it cannot trust international suppliers.

The Russian and IAEA fuel reserves aim to provide countries an incentive to forgo enrichment technology, which can be used both for fueling reactors or bombs.

Both plans seek to address developing countries' concerns by stressing that the mechanism does not limit any country's right to pursue peaceful nuclear technology, including enrichment.

The fuel in the new IAEA bank is owned by the international nuclear agency, while, in the other one, Russia owns the material of its bank and transfers ownership to the IAEA only before shipping it to the recipient country.

One third of the funding for the IAEA fuel bank decided on Friday is provided by US investor Warren Buffett via the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a non-governmental arms control group based in Washington.

The rest of the 150-million dollar bill is footed by the United States, the European Union, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Norway.

Kazakhstan has offered to store this IAEA fuel reserve.

One bottleneck for both fuel banks is turning the material from the reserves into actual fuel elements for reactors.

Although the schemes contain insurance mechanisms for supplying low-enriched uranium, countries receiving the material would have no guarantees that one of the few countries who can make fuel rods would agree to do so.

Of the 35 countries on the IAEA's governing board, 28 voted for the new IAEA fuel bank, while six developing countries objected. Pakistan withheld its vote.

The six abstaining countries included Brazil and Argentina, which have uranium enrichment programs, and former nuclear weapon state South Africa, which operated one in the past. Nuclear power Pakistan also enriches uranium.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356475,establishes-nuclear-fuel-bank.html.

IAEA to focus on Israeli nukes in June

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will discuss Israel - the owner of Middle East's sole atomic arsenal -- and its nuclear activities.

The IAEA is allowed to refer nuclear proliferation concerns to the UN Security Council.

The issue, which has always eluded IAEA's agenda with the help of the United States, has been included in the list of items to be brought up at the agency's gathering on June 7, the Associated Press reported Saturday.

The matter is to be discussed under the subject of Israel's "nuclear capabilities" at the request of the body's 18 Arab members.

The organization has avoided the issue since its inception and for more than half a century amid Israel's insistence on maintaining a policy of nuclear "ambiguity," under which the regime neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons.

Tel Aviv has repeatedly brushed aside international calls for joining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Since 1958, when Israel began building the Dimona plutonium and uranium processing facility, it has allegedly manufactured scores of nuclear warheads, earning reputation as the sole owner of such weapons in the Middle East.

Former US President Jimmy Carter has attested to the existence of the arsenal, which he said includes between 200 to 300 warheads.

According to AP, the June meeting's agenda could change, should Washington and other Israeli allies raise strong objections to the measure.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125821§ionid=351020202.

IAEA presses Israel to sign NPT

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano has urged member states to find a way to implement the 2009 resolution on Israel.

In a letter, Amano asked the foreign ministers of the 151 member states to share their views on how to persuade Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and open up its nuclear facilities for inspection.

Amid renewed criticism of Israel from Islamic countries during the NPT review conference, which is currently underway at UN Headquarters in New York, Amano's letter, which came to light on Wednesday, will definitely increase the pressure on Israel to fully disclose its unacknowledged nuclear arsenal.

On Tuesday, Islamic nations used the second day of the conference to call for the Middle East to be declared a nuclear weapons-free zone.

The Islamic countries also criticized Israel for not divulging its nuclear capabilities and refusing to sign the NPT.

Amano has asked member countries for advice on how best to persuade Israel to allow IAEA oversight of its nuclear facilities.

Amano's April 7 letter came seven months after an IAEA annual conference, during which member states narrowly passed a resolution directly criticizing Israel and its nuclear program, with 49 of the 110 nations present voting in favor of the resolution, 45 voting against, and 16 abstaining.

The result was a setback not only for Israel but also for Washington and other supporters of the Zionist regime, which had successfully lobbied for 18 years to ensure that there was never a vote on a resolution against Israel, despite intense debate on the issue.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125584§ionid=351020202.

Iranian Foreign Minister to meet IAEA chief Sunday

Vienna - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was set to meet International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano over the weekend, the IAEA said Friday, amid Iran's efforts to lobby against new UN sanctions.

Austria is currently a member of the UN Security Council in New York, where new punitive measures are being discussed to pressure Iran into halting its controversial nuclear program.

Mottaki will meet Amano on Sunday, IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor confirmed.

Diplomats in Vienna said the Iranian minister secured the encounter with the nuclear agency chief on short notice, after having asked for a meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday was traveling to Uganda, another current Security Council member.

The United States and other Western countries on the council are pushing for additional sanctions, as Iran has not fully cooperated with the IAEA in recent months and has started to enrich uranium to higher levels than before.

The IAEA has been asking Iran for years to answer questions about possible nuclear weapons research, but Tehran's leaders have refused to do so and argue that the nuclear program is geared only towards energy and science.

Last autumn, the Vienna-based nuclear agency tried to broker a deal with Iran, the US, Russia and France to process Iran's enriched uranium into reactor fuel abroad, rather than in the country. So far, Tehran has not accepted the deal.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320296,iranian-foreign-minister-to-meet-iaeachief-sunday.html.

Iran seeks IAEA suspension of US

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says nuclear-armed states such as the United States should be removed entirely from the IAEA and its Board of Governors.

The “Nuclear Energy for all, Nuclear Weapons for None” disarmament conference kicked off in Tehran on Saturday with President Ahmadinejad outlining his vision of a world free of nuclear weapons.

President Ahmadinejad, in an address to the two-day international conference, said that the United States and its vast arsenal of atomic warheads, is delaying the long-awaited prospect of global nuclear disarmament.

He further added that Washington's ongoing development of atomic weapons as part of a so-called deterrence policy has been the main reason behind the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in recent years.

“Washington has not only applied nuclear weapons against other nations, but has for years threatened to use weapons of mass destruction against world countries in order to gain the upper hand,” explained the Iranian President.

With that in mind, Ahmadinejad said “such countries [which continue to threaten countries with the use of nuclear weapons to this day] should be stripped of their membership to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”

“They have no place [in the UN nuclear watchdog] or its Board of Governors,” he noted.

Ahmadinejad went on to call for the launch of an independent supervision committee to oversee global nuclear disarmament in the international community.

"What we need today is an independent international body to prevent proliferation and supervise the process of nuclear disarmament," he asserted.

On this note, Ahmadinejad said all nations are entitled to feel safe from the looming nuclear weapons threat, however, such sense of security has been a luxury some countries have yet to enjoy.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123553§ionid=351020101.

UN atomic boss feels the heat

By Anoush Maleki

The new International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general, Yukiya Amano, is stealing the spotlight with his dangerous approach to Iran.

The veteran diplomat, who took control of the UN nuclear agency after the 12-year reign of Egypt's Mohamed ElBaradei, inherited one of the most chaotic eras in the agency's history — including the weak global security system meant to reduce nuclear weapons around the globe, while those non-members conducting nuclear programs — such as Israel whose nuclear arsenal of 200 to 300 warheads precedes the regime's reputation and its belligerent actions in the volatile Middle East — continue to refuse to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The IAEA was founded 52 years ago for two primary objectives: to provide a sound basis for the global development of civilian nuclear programs and to prevent the development and spread of nuclear weapons.

The agency, which consists of some 2,200 professional staff members from more than 90 nations, has dispatched teams of inspectors around the globe to monitor and find government that are breaking their commitments to the NPT.

Upon taking the reins at the IAEA in December, Mr. Amano, who comes from the only nation struck with nuclear arms, befittingly pledged to fight the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to promote and regulate the civilian nuclear industry.

Mr. Amano, however, spared no time to divert the agency's full attention toward Iran and the long lasting dispute over its nuclear energy program, which the world powers allege is a cover for developing and spreading atomic bombs.

His first report on Iran, released on February 18, claimed that the UN agency had "concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities" that could enable the Iranian military to develop a working nuclear bomb.

The agency, Mr. Amano said, will now seek to discuss with Iran projects "involving high precision detonators fired simultaneously; studies on the initiation of high explosives and missile re-entry body engineering; a project for the conversion of UO2 to UF4, known as 'the green salt project'; and various procurement related activities."

Iran, however, says it is not willing to discuss the alleged activities unless it is provided with the original documents that have allowed the agency to link the country's conventional military projects with its civilian nuclear program.

It also reserves the right not to share the information demanded by the IAEA, arguing that any country is entitled to keep its military secrets.

Nonetheless, Mr. Amano, who enjoys the full support of the United States and its allies, ignored the history of the nuclear dispute. And he even went on to contradict an American intelligence estimate in 2007 that claimed Iran had not conducted weapons-related activities beyond 2003.

"Addressing these issues is important for clarifying the agency's concerns about these activities and those described above, which seem to have continued beyond 2004," he said in the report.

In 2003, Iran announced its voluntarily suspension of uranium enrichment, which it is entitled to under the NPT, and reprocessing activities. The next year, the Iranian Parliament, Majlis, extended the confidence building measure while UN inspections at Iran's nuclear installations forced the then IAEA director general, Mr. ElBaradei, to declare in November 2003 that there was "no evidence" Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons.

His assurance was ignored by the powers, who responded to Iran's decision to sign the Additional Protocol by the imposition of United Nations Security Council sanctions resolutions.

The accusations continued under Mr. ElBaradei, while the IAEA continued to verify the non-diversion of Iran's civilian program.

Mr. Amano, meanwhile, stepped into the spotlight by claiming that the "alleged studies" — branded by the ElBaradei administration — were "factual."

The unusual tone prompted Iran to accuse the Japanese diplomat of bowing to the White House pressure his predecessor had managed to fight for years.

Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said on February 22 that judging on the report, Mr. Amano — who worked as director general for the disarmament, nonproliferation and science department at the Japanese Foreign Ministry — has proven to be an amateur in the new position and must receive on the job training, according to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA).

It is noteworthy that the IAEA report was released amid an effortless US campaign to win international support for penalizing Iran for its program and delays surrounding a nuclear fuel swap deal, which, if the West had shown flexibility, could have been a door opener for the struggling Obama administration on Iran.

Whether Mr. Amano wrote the report to lend an apparent hand to the White House and indoctrinate an international consensus against Iran remains to be uncovered but the report's immediate impact was likely to accelerate the confrontation between Iran and the Western countries.

Now, thanks to Mr. Amano, the dispute with no practical resolve in sight will continue to plague the ties between Iran and the United States.

The White House, under Congressional, Israeli and neo-con pressure, is fiercely pursuing a failure on Iran: Sanctions in the hopes of a breakthrough — not realizing, that even if China and Russia finally support such a measure, sanctions will not alter Iran's course of action.

The Japanese diplomat, meanwhile, needs to be briefed on the history of Iran and understand the beliefs and objectives of the Islamic Republic.

The IAEA chief needs to realize that when the Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, issues a fatwa — an Islamic declaration that all Muslims are obliged to comply with — and forbids the building and spreading weapons of mass destruction, including atomic bombs, he means business.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120309§ionid=3510303.

Iran wants IAEA to switch concern to Israel

Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has urged the top nuclear body to switch its focus from Syria's atomic work to Israel's nuclear arsenal as the main cause for concern.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh read out a statement in the Thursday meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors on the implementation of the Safeguards Agreements in Syria.

In the statement, Soltanieh said that Iran was "deeply concerned" about the IAEA's verification measures which, he said have shifted focus from Israel's nuclear work as the main source of problem to "secondary technical" issues.

"The core problem is, in fact, the Zionist regime of Israel's offensive against Syria which is a blatant violation of the UN Charter and the international law including the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency," Fars News Agency quoted Soltanieh as saying on Thursday.

In September 2007, Israeli warplanes destroyed Syria's al-Kibar military site blaming the country for harboring a nuclear reactor there, a claim rejected by Syria.

Soltanieh then accused Israel and its allies of having engaged the IAEA in a made-up scenario by raising "false claims" against Syria.

"Meanwhile, those member states who cry foul over Syria ['s nuclear work] have turned a blind eye to the Israeli regime's nuclear arsenal, which poses a serious threat to both regional and global peace and security," he said.

An IAEA report by Director General Yukiya Amano said in February that uranium particles found at the Syrian complex suggest the possibility of covert nuclear activity at the site.

In response to the report, Syria said that unlike Israel, it was "committed to the non-proliferation agreement," reiterating that its nuclear work is totally peaceful.

Israel, the world's sixth largest nuclear weapons power, maintains a policy known as "nuclear ambiguity" and continues to remain outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120121§ionid=351020104.

Iran atomic head: new IAEA chief biased

China says still room for Iran nuclear talks, Russia rejects sanctions that target Iran civilians.

TEHRAN - Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi Tuesday accused the new head of the UN atomic watchdog of bias and said he hoped the Japanese official would change his approach towards Tehran's atomic program.

"We expected Mr (Yukiya) Amano to examine and adopt a position about the nuclear issue in an unbiased way, but unfortunately and in contradiction with what he had said before, we did not see an unbiased position," Salehi said when asked to react to Amano remarks at the UN atomic body meeting on Monday.

"We hope that he will change his approach."

Amano, who took over as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on December 1, said in an address to the agency's board in Vienna that Iran is still not giving sufficient information on its nuclear activities.

"We cannot confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities because Iran has not provided the agency with the necessary cooperation," Amano said.

He later clarified at a press conference that Tehran was cooperating, "but there are areas where we don't have cooperation and (where) we need cooperation."

Around two weeks before the meeting, Amano had circulated a report to IAEA member states regarding Iran's atomic program which was seen as using tougher language than his predecessor Mohamed ElBaradei.

In the report Amano expressed concern that Tehran may be working on a nuclear warhead.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had responded to the report by accusing the IAEA of lacking independence and being "influenced by the United States."

The United States said Monday Iran needed to start answering questions, rather than criticize the agency.

But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday it could take months for new UN sanctions against Iran.

The chief US diplomat appeared to back away from her contention before the US Senate last week that a new resolution could be obtained in the "next 30 to 60 days."

"We are moving expeditiously and thoroughly in the Security Council. I can't give you an exact date, but I would assume sometime in the next several months," she said.

China on Tuesday called for more talks to resolve the Iranian nuclear standoff.

"We call for a resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomatic means. We believe there is still room for diplomatic efforts," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters when asked about Medvedev's statement.

"We believe parties concerned should step up diplomatic efforts and push for progress in dialogue and negotiations to properly resolve the Iranian nuclear issue."

China is one of five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council. The others -- Britain, France, Russia and the United States -- as well as Germany are involved in talks with Iran on its nuclear program.

Russia also has been hesitant to sign on to a new UN sanctions regime, but on Monday in Paris after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Medvedev said that while sanctions were a last resort, he was open to the idea.

"Russia is ready, together with our other partners, to consider introducing sanctions" if there is no breakthrough in the negotiations, he told a news conference.

"These sanctions should be calibrated and smart. These sanctions should not target the civilian population," the Russian leader said.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=37572.

Iranian MP: Missile program not IAEA's business

A senior Iranian lawmaker insists that Iran's missile program is not within the jurisdiction of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“Iran's missile capability is none of the agency's business,” said Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Chairman of the parliamentary (Majlis) Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy on Wednesday.

“Where were the agency and other international organizations when, during the eight-year (Iraqi-imposed) war, Iranian cities were attacked by Iraqi missiles,” he added.

The lawmaker, from the western City of Borujerd, was referring to the IAEA's latest report that accuses Iran of trying to develop “nuclear payload for a missile.”

“These alleged activities consist of a number of projects and sub-projects, covering nuclear- and missile-related aspects, run by the military-related organizations,” AIEA Director General Yukiya Amano's report alleged on Thursday.

Amano, who has reportedly claimed that at his new position he wants to focus on "the facts" and pursue a more technical approach than his predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei, also complained about the level of Iran's cooperation with the agency.

This is while the UN nuclear watchdog has carried out the highest number of inspections in Iran compared to any other country throughout its history and has found nothing to indicate that the program has diverted toward weaponization.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119399§ionid=351020104.

Rafsanjani criticizes IAEA report on Iran

Head of Iran's Assembly of Experts Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has criticized the head of the UN nuclear watchdog over his recent report on Iran's nuclear energy program.

Speaking at the opening of an Assembly of Experts meeting, Ayatollah Rafsanjani said the recent report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) repeated the previous US accusations against Iran.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano's Thursday report stated the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran; however, it accused Tehran of not providing "the necessary cooperation to permit the Agency to confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities."

Ayatollah Rafsanjani said, “It seems all the Western countries were prepared for and informed about such a report, which they welcomed after its release.”

He further criticized the 'failed' US policies in the Middle East, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

The head of the Assembly of Experts singled out the US efforts to bring back former Baathists to the Iraqi parliament which failed in the face of the Iraqi nation's resistance.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119316§ionid=351020101.

IAEA confirms 20% uranium enrichment in Iran

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that Iran has produced its first batch of 20 percent enriched uranium at the Natanz enrichment plant.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said in his first report on Iran that Iranian experts carried out the enrichment for producing nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor between February 9 and 11.

"Iran provided the agency with mass spectrometry results which indicate that enrichment levels of up to 19.8 percent (uranium) were obtained," the report says.

Iran announced on February 9 that it had started enriching uranium to the level of less than 20 percent to meet the country's fuel requirements for the reactor producing medical radioisotopes, after the potential suppliers failed to provide the fuel under a UN deal.

Two days later, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad formally declared that Iran had successfully produced the first stock of the 20-percent enriched uranium, a declaration which was met with cynicism in the West.

The report noted that Iran started enriching uranium to a higher level in the presence of IAEA inspectors.

"On February 10, when the agency inspectors arrived at the PFEP (Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant), they were informed that Iran had already begun to feed the UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) into one cascade the previous evening," Amano said in his report to the IAEA Board of Governors.

The report also verified the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran.

"The information available to the agency is extensive… broadly consistent and credible in terms of the technical detail, the time frame in which the activities were conducted and the people, and organizations involved," the report said.

However, the IAEA called on Iran to further discuss and cooperate on alleged issues.

"Iran has not provided the necessary cooperation to permit the agency to confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities," it added.

"Altogether this raises concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile," Amano said.

Iran has repeatedly denied it is working on sensitive nuclear materials and insists its uranium enrichment plants and other facilities are only geared toward civilian nuclear energy applications.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118942§ionid=351020104.

Malaysian voted chairman of IAEA Board of Governors

The Malaysian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob, has been elected as the new chairman of the body's 35-member Board of Governors.

Yaakob was elected after his fellow countryman, Mohd Arshad bin Manzoor Hussain — who had originally been voted to chair the board in the current period but was eventually recalled by Kuala Lumpur in December 2009.

Over the past few months, reports have been circulating that Arshad had been in fact sacked for supporting Iran's nuclear program in an IAEA vote.

The allegations, however, have been dismissed out of hand by the Malaysian Foreign Ministry.

"The ambassador's term is up in March and so it will not be renewed and we are hoping to replace him with another Malaysian envoy," AFP quoted the country's Foreign Minister Anifah Aman as saying on Saturday.

"Mohammad Arshad's contract was extended upon his retirement and that extension is ending in March so he should bow out gracefully to let younger diplomats have a chance to serve the country in international organizations," he added.

The Board of Governors is one of the two policy making bodies of the IAEA. The board consists of 13 members designated by the outgoing board and 22 members elected by the General Conference — which is the highest policymaking body of the IAEA.

The chairmanship of the IAEA Board of Governors routinely rotates between different geographical regions.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118534§ionid=351020406.

'IAEA aims to spy on Iran from Turkmenistan'

An Iranian Analyst has warned the UN nuclear watchdog against a decision to set up a nuclear test detection station in Turkmenistan near the border with Iran.

"The Comprehensive (Nuclear) Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a security and spy treaty. It is even more dangerous than the Additional Protocol [to the Non-Proliferation Treaty]," Iran's former ambassador to Italy Abolfazl Zohrehvand told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Wednesday.

"Under the CTBT any form of nuclear activity can be controlled and stopped. It means that the treaty can be used to block peaceful nuclear activities or even to counter missile tests of countries," he added.

The senior diplomat noted that the CTBT is in serious contradiction with the principle of the countries' sovereignty.

"The facilities are installed in various countries as seismograph station… Currently a station is planned to be set up in Turkmenistan, which has the shortest distance with Iran," he said.

He expressed confidence that other stations have been planned in certain neighboring countries to "complete a control belt over Iran in an attempt to keep a close watch on the nuclear activities of countries like Iran."

Zohrehvand said that information the stations gather will be " will be directly sent to a seismograph center in Vienna," adding that the host country has no access to the information.

Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s Board of Governors passed a new resolution against Iran over the construction of its Fordo enrichment plant, located outside Tehran.

While resolutions passed by the Board of Governors generally focus on technical issues — as opposed to political ones — and are usually either passed or rejected unanimously, the November 27 resolution failed to win the support of ten member states.

Tehran has maintained that it will continue cooperation with the IAEA, but has also warned that attempts aimed at denying Iran its nuclear rights could reduce the country's cooperation to "a legally mandated minimum," which means it would not venture beyond its legal obligations.

Tehran has, however, asserted that despite mounting Western pressure it will not pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Japan's Amano assumes post of IAEA chief

Vienna - Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano on Tuesday took over the helm of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, succeeding Mohamed ElBaradei at a time of heightened tension over Iran's nuclear program. "As you know, it is raining," he told senior staff members, referring to the November weather outside, "and the situation surrounding the Agency is stormy now. We have lots of difficult issues, challenges, but I would like to do my best."

Amano, 62, said he would seek to address all issues on the IAEA's agenda, including its role in energy, health care and in making sure nuclear technology is not abused to build weapons.

But the soft-spoken nuclear expert will likely have to invest a lot of energy in the latter role, given Iran's announcement on Sunday that it plans to build ten more uranium enrichment plants in defiance of the IAEA and the UN Security Council.

Agency inspectors might faces tougher times in Iran now that the Islamic Republic has reacted to an IAEA censure over a secret nuclear site by announcing it would further reduce cooperation.

Amano also inherited a proposed nuclear fuel deal for Iran from his Egyptian predecessor, under which Iran would exchange low-enriched uranium for foreign-made fuel to power a medical reactor.

So far, Tehran has not formally replied to the proposal that aims to reduce concern over Iran's uranium enrichment.

Amano spent a good part of his career working with nuclear issues.

He studied law at Tokyo University, considered to be Japan's most prestigious academic institution.

Since joining the Foreign Ministry in 1972, Amano took on increasingly senior positions related to arms control and nuclear non-proliferation, and served as ambassador to the IAEA until this summer.

Despite his experience, he won the election for IAEA chief only narrowly in June, because developing countries favored South African diplomat Abdul Samad Minty and saw Amano as being a candidate of Western, industrialized countries.

"I'll try to be an impartial, reliable and professional Director General," Amano said Tuesday.

Israel welcomes IAEA Iran decision

Jerusalem - Israel Friday welcomed IAEA's governing board decision condemning Iran for breaching UN Security Council orders regarding a new enrichment plant, and urging it to halt construction and answer open questions about alleged nuclear weapons research. The decision comes "after more than three years in which no decision was taken within this framework against Iran," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor said in a statement to journalists.

The decision, he said, had "great importance."

"The adoption of the decision by a large majority indicates that the international community has reached the conclusion that Iran's nuclear program, which is advancing secretly through concealment and deception, is becoming an urgent and real danger to world peace.

"The international community, through it authorized institutions and its member states, must ensure that this decision will have practical implications," he said.

The international community should do that be "setting binding timetables" for Iran's implementation of the decision and "heavy sanctions" on Tehran in case it ignored it.

UN nuclear agency to discuss Iran, Syria

By VERONIKA OLEKSYN, Associated Press Writer

VIENNA – The International Atomic Energy Agency meets Monday for talks that will likely center on the U.N. watchdog's deadlocked nuclear probes of Iran and Syria.

The basis for the closed session of the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors, scheduled to last several days, are two recent agency assessments. One accuses Iran of continuing to enrich uranium and refusing to clear up lingering questions about possible military dimensions to its nuclear program.

Another chides Syria for not fully cooperating on efforts to settle inquiries about whether it was trying to build a nuclear complex at a desert site bombed by Israel in 2007.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But the U.S. and others contend the country is trying to build an atomic weapon. Syria denies hiding a nuclear program.

Ahead of the board meeting, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tehran is ready to hold talks with the world powers over global challenges — including its nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad said Iran will initially present its package of proposals to the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany.

Iran has defied three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions and has bristled at the agency's latest report. On Friday, Iranian envoy Ali Ashgar Soltanieh accused Washington of using "forged documents" to make its case that Tehran is trying to build a bomb. In a letter to IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, Soltanieh also criticized Britain and France.

The agency's latest assessment did acknowledge that Iran has been producing nuclear fuel at a slower rate and has allowed U.N. inspectors broader access to its main nuclear complex in the southern city of Natanz and to a reactor in Arak.

But it cautioned that there are "a number of outstanding issues which give rise to concerns and which need to be clarified to exclude the existence of possible military dimensions."

The IAEA launched a Syria-specific probe after Israeli jets destroyed what the U.S. says was a nearly finished nuclear reactor built with North Korean help that was configured to produce plutonium — one of the substances used in nuclear warheads.

Syria denies hiding nuclear activities, but has blocked the probe, refusing to allow U.N. nuclear inspectors follow-up visits beyond one last year and declining to provide satisfactory explanations for unusual finds of traces of uranium.

Damascus alleges that Israel used bombs or missiles containing depleted uranium — which hardens metal and allows it to penetrate deeper — in attacking the site. Israel has repeatedly told the IAEA it did not use such ordnance.

Over the next five days, board members are also expected to discuss nuclear security, measures to protect against nuclear terrorism and pay tribute to ElBaradei, whose term ends Nov. 30.

The IAEA's board of governors generally meets five times a year.