IAEA Chief Urges Negotiations To Resolve Iran Nuclear Standoff
Associated Press
Sep 18, 2006
The head of the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency on Monday urged Iran and six world powers to start talks on easing world concerns that Tehran could be seeking to make an atomic bomb.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, spoke at the start of a 140-nation IAEA conference that will look at ways to reduce the threat of nuclear proliferation -- a concern highlighted by worries that Iran could misuse uranium enrichment to make nuclear weapons.
In his opening remarks, ElBaradei said negotiations between Tehran and the six-country alliance offering rewards if Iran freezes enrichment could serve to ease worries "about the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program."
Iran's defiance of a U.N. Security Council demand that it stop enriching has exposed it to the threat of sanctions, with the United States pressing for quick movement on such punishment even while the European Union tries to persuade Tehran to accept the offer to negotiate.
In Paris, French President Jacques Chirac said Monday that the international community was prepared to suspend any Security Council action however, if Tehran started talking and suspended enrichment.
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