Iran's President Mohammad Khatami said Wednesday he had a number of complaints against the head of UN's nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei over his report listing violations by Iran's nuclear programme.Khatami said Tehran's future cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency depended on the outcome of the IAEA's November 20 board meeting which could declare Iran in breach of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
"In the report the important point was that there is no proof Iran is seeking to build the atomic bomb. Overall, there are positive points and there are points that did not need to have been mentioned," Khatami told reporters.
"We have some complaints against Mr. ElBaradei," he added.
"He should have taken into account other considerations. It is natural that during the past 20 years of nuclear activities that there have been failures, but this does not signify a violation of the NPT," he added.
"We will continue our cooperation with the agency and we are waiting for the board of directors meeting. If their attitude is political, we reserve the right to change our attitude," Khatami said, althought he did add that "I am optimistic."
All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
Quick Links
SpaceWar
Search SpaceWar
Subscribe To SpaceWar Express
