23 May 2004	Sunday	03 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

VIENNA, May 22: Iran has submitted an over 1,000-page report on its contested nuclear programme to the UN atomic agency investigating US allegations that Tehran is secretly developing nuclear weapons , Iranian ambassador Pirooz Hosseini said on Saturday.

He said the report was submitted late on Friday to the Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

IAEA officials were not immediately available for comment but a diplomat close to the agency said the Iranians had filed their report, which falls under an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that mandates tougher inspections.

Hosseini said: "We have submitted this declaration under article 2 of the Additional Protocol which Iran had signed on December 18."

He said that even though the Iranian parliament has not yet ratified the protocol, Iran had "decided to apply it voluntarily as a confidence-building measure" and was filing the report on its nuclear programme that is required within six months under the additional protocol.

He said the declaration gave "information related to our 10- year research and development programme with regard to the nuclear fuel cycle and related technologies."

Hosseini said the report provided information on "the capacity of uranium mines" in Iran, and, regarding nuclear installations, given "a description of each building and places in sites that have been declared to the agency."

Hosseini said the report was "more than 1,000 pages" long and included maps.-AFP