IAEA board reaches consensus on Iran

TEHRAN, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency Friday adopted a resolution to ensure Iran complies with limits on its nuclear program.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a release it still is not satisfied Iran's program is strictly for civilian purposes and asked Tehran to "comply fully and without delay with its obligations under relevant resolutions of the U.N. Security Council, and to meet the requirements of the IAEA Board of Governors" and for the country and the IAEA to "intensify their dialogue."

The resolution, adopted with 32-2, calls on Iran to "engage seriously and without preconditions in talks aimed at restoring international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program while respecting the legitimate right to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy consistent with the [Non-Proliferation Treaty]."

The IAEA board spoke with a "unified voice" in its resolution holding Iran accountable for failing to live up to its international obligations, the White House said.

While the United States wasn't surprised by IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano's findings last week, "the whole world now knows that Iran not only sought to hide its uranium enrichment program from the world for more than two decades, but also engaged in covert research and development related to activities that can have only one application: building a nuclear warhead for delivery on a ballistic missile," the statement issued Friday by the White House press secretary's office said.

Even though Iran has defended its uranium enrichment program on the "pretense" that it was solely for a civilian nuclear energy program, the White House said Amano's report and the board's action "expose once and for all the hollowness of Iran's claims, and reinforce the world's demands that Iran come clean and live up to its international obligations."