UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency told the General Assembly Monday he was asking more cooperation from Iran, Libya and North Korea with an eye to building confidence by suspending activities related to uranium enrichment and reprocessing.
Mohamed ElBaradei, executive director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in his annual report he had urged Iran to pursue a policy of "maximum transparency."
He said recent work in Iran and Libya, marked by "disturbing lessons," found indications of an "extensive illicit market" for the supply of nuclear items, which, he said, "clearly thrived on demand."
Libya's announced decision to roll back its nuclear weapons program appeared to be "consistent with the information available," but added further investigation were still needed.
On North Korea, he described the situation as "a serious challenge," while hoping upcoming six-party talks would lead to re-endorsement of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
On the question of Iraq, the IAEA chief said he hoped the Security Council would soon provide guidance on its mandate.
"It is clearly important to bring the whole question of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to closure as soon as possible," he told the assembly.
Referring to a mandate given to him by the IAEA's membership, ElBaradei said he intended to organize a forum early next year to explore the possibility of establishing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, hoping such a move could strengthen efforts to reach a comprehensive settlement in the region.
The agency's activities remained at the center of efforts to curb nuclear proliferation, he said.
ElBaradei stressed the importance of the agency's "additional protocol" in providing assurance not only that declared nuclear material had not been diverted for non-peaceful purposes, but, equally important, that no undeclared nuclear material or activities existed.
ElBaradei said the situation in the North Korea continues to pose a serious challenge to the nuclear proliferation regime.
Since December 2002, the agency had not performed any verification in that country and could not provide any level of assurance about the non-diversion of nuclear material. He said the IAEA's verification activities in Libya had confirmed that for many years it had pursued an undeclared nuclear program, which aimed to enrich uranium and which included the receipt of nuclear weapons design documents. Over many years, Libya had failed to meet many of its obligations under safeguards agreement.
However, last December, Libya renounced its programs to build nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, he said, adding it had also signed an additional protocol and had actively cooperated with the IAEA's efforts to verify its renunciation of its former nuclear weapons program.
The IAEA Board of Governors had adopted several resolutions on Iran's past undeclared nuclear weapons program and had Tehran to cooperate fully in the verification process, ElBaradei said. Since last February, the agency had made steady progress in understanding the nature and extent of that program.
Iran's earlier interactions with the agency had been, as he put it, regrettably marked by the provision of information that was at times changing, contradictory and slow in coming. However, its cooperation had improved.
The IAEA inspectors had been provided access to requested locations, and Iran had provided information requested by the agency, though in some cases its response had continued to be slow. One issue that remained central to understanding Iran's nuclear program was the extent and nature of its uranium enrichment activities.
Iran had reversed some of its suspension measures, and the IAEA board has called on it to suspend all enrichment related and reprocessing activities as a confidence-building measure.
Deputy Ambassador Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi of Iran told the assembly membership in the NPT and the IAEA safeguards regime should not impede the peaceful use of nuclear technology, while non-membership was rewarded by acquiescence, "as in the case of development of one of the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons located in the Middle East," a reference to Israel's widely assumed nuclear capability.
If anything, failure to accept the NPT and its safeguards obligations should have made the only outsider to the NPT in the Middle East the subject of the most severe restrictions and not have provided it with impunity, he said.
The inalienable right of the NPT parties to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes should not, under any circumstances, be restricted, the Tehran envoy said. Accordingly, national efforts to develop, research, produce and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, with a view to fostering economic development, should not be hampered by "ulterior outside political considerations."
He said Iran, as an original party to the NPT, was committed to its obligations under the treaty, and at the same time, was determined to pursue its inalienable rights to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, as enshrined in the treaty.
