TEHRAN, Oct 22: Iran said on Wednesday it would hand over documents on its past nuclear activities to the UN nuclear watchdog later in the day to allay international suspicions that it was planning a bomb.
The move would meet a key demand of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which had given Tehran an Oct-31 deadline to clear up suspicions about its nuclear ambitions.
Iran has always denied that it is seeking to make nuclear weapons and on Tuesday, it agreed to sign up to tougher IAEA inspections and suspend uranium enrichment as part of a deal hailed as a positive step by US President George W. Bush.
The IAEA has said its primary current concern is to ensure that it has complete information about the origin and history of Iran’s sophisticated uranium enrichment system.
Asked by reporters when the documents would be given to the IAEA, a senior Iranian official replied: “Tonight.”
The same official said on Wednesday that Iran would next week sign a draft of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’s Additional Protocol that would allow snap nuclear checks.
Tehran agreed to the snap inspections and to freeze uranium enrichment on Tuesday in an agreement hailed by three visiting European ministers as a promising start to removing doubts about Iran’s atomic aims.
Iran’s President Mohammad Khatami said on Wednesday the protocol would need parliamentary approval.—Reuters
