US sets March deadline for Iran to cooperate with IAEA

The United States effectively set a March deadline on Thursday for Iran to start cooperating in substance with a UN nuclear agency investigation, saying it would otherwise urge reporting the issue to the UN Security Council.    

The comments by US diplomat Robert Wood to the 35-nation governing board of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency signaled Washington's growing frustration at the lack of results in the IAEA's inquiry into possible military dimensions to Tehran's nuclear program. Iran denies the charge.    

"If by March Iran has not begun substantive cooperation with the IAEA, the United States ... would urge the board to consider reporting this lack of progress to the UN Security Council," Wood said, according to a copy of his statement.

Earlier, the UN nuclear chief said on Thursday that no progress had been made in trying to clarify concerns about possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program, despite "intensive efforts" by his agency.   

"No concrete results have been achieved," Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a quarterly meeting of the 35-nation governing board of the Vienna-based watchdog.  


REUTERS