Elbaradei favors dialog rather than isolation in solving Iranian nuclear issue: report
27/8/2007 16:27
The Iranian nuclear issue should be settled through dialogue and
isolation could only make Iran's hardliners stronger, said the chief of the UN
atomic watchdog, quoted by Austria's magazine Profile due to be published
today.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), told the magazine that he has been consistently in support of a
settlement of the Iranian issue through dialogue.
"We must affirm that Iran
opened its nuclear program and it was a progress," ElBaradei said, adding that
the IAEA needs to know the whole nuclear project of Iran.
Iran has worked out
an action plan with the IAEA to solve the open issues concerning its nuclear
program, he said, referring to an agreement reached early last week.
The pact
was meant to eliminate the IAEA's concerns over any possible military
involvement in Iran's nuclear program and to improve access for UN inspectors to
its underground uranium-enrichment plant.
ElBaradei said the world must wait
and see whether Iran's cooperation with the IAEA is serious or not. He also
called on Iran to hold security dialogues with its neighbors, Israel and the
United States.
The world should support Iranian moderates, who favor dialogue
instead of confrontation in handling the nuclear issue, ElBaradei said, warning
that isolation could only lead to a stronger camp of the hardliners in
Iran.
He believed the UN sanctions against Iran should go along with direct
dialogue. Sanctions alone could not result in settlement of the issue.
The
Iranian nuclear issue would also be on the agenda of the upcoming conference of
the IAEA board of governors and its General Conference on Sept.
10-21.
Xinhua
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