IAEA calls on Iran to cooperate

VIENNA, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Iran is called on to cooperate with a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency expected to visit the country next week, a director said.

An IAEA team is expected to tour Iran starting Sunday. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said the objective of the visit was to resolve what he said were "outstanding substantive issues."

"The agency team is going to Iran in a constructive spirit and we trust that Iran will work with us in that same spirit," he said.

The IAEA last year said it found there were military aspects to certain elements within Iran's controversial nuclear program. Tehran maintains the program is peaceful.

European foreign ministers on Monday called for an embargo on Iranian oil. British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in a joint statement, said they were sending a strong message to the Iranian government.

"We will not accept Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon," their statement read. "Iran has so far had no regard for its international obligations and is already exporting and threatening violence around its region."

British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said sending a battle carrier to the Strait of Hormuz during the weekend sent a "clear signal" to the Iranians, the BBC reports.