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IAEA Studies Iran's Nuclear Documentation

Melanie Sully
Vienna
31 Oct 2003, 18:50 UTC

The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran has handed over a great deal of information on
its past nuclear activities, but it is too early to judge whether the program is for peaceful purposes
only.

Responding to an IAEA resolution, Iran submitted by the October 31 deadline some 200 pages of
what it says is a complete and accurate file about its nuclear program.

The IAEA says the documents are very detailed, and Iran has cooperated well in the last weeks.

But the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency spokesman, Mark Gwozdecky, says information provided by
Iran earlier this year was often inconsistent.

"By June, that information had changed, as we extracted more new information, and confronted
them with things they could not refute," he said. "By September, we had again confronted them
with a whole new set of evidence and information that forced them to change their story in many
ways again."

The IAEA says it is now examining the new information to determine whether Iran is secretly
building nuclear weapons. Conclusions from the examination of the file will be submitted to the
IAEA governing board by mid-November.

The United States has accused Tehran of maintaining a clandestine nuclear weapons program,
which the Iranian government denies. But western diplomats have long questioned why an energy-
rich country like Iran needs an ambitious nuclear program for civilian use.

The U.N. nuclear agency say it expects to receive a letter from Tehran some time next week,
accepting the terms of an additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Under that
protocol, Iran would have to open its nuclear facilities to unannounced inspections. The IAEA
board of governors meets at the end of November and, if doubts remain, could refer Iran's nuclear
program to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.