June 02, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 27, 1429

TEHRAN, June 1: Iran said on Sunday it might have to limit its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, criticising the agency’s report which said Tehran’s alleged research into nuclear warheads was a matter of serious concern.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in a May 26 report, also said Tehran should provide more information on its missile-related work.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tehran believed the UN agency could have submitted a better report had it not been for the “continuing pressures of one or two known countries,” in a clear reference to Tehran’s Western foes.

The United States accuses the Islamic Republic of seeking to develop nuclear arms. Iran denies the charge but its refusal to suspend sensitive nuclear work has prompted three rounds of UN sanctions since 2006.

“In regard to this report, we of course had more expectations from the agency,” spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference, a day before the IAEA’s board of governors begin a June 2-6 meeting in Vienna.

He added: “The trend of cooperation ... should continue in a way that, as Dr Larijani pointed out, the parliament and the Islamic Republic of Iran would not be compelled to review the going trend of the cooperation and adopt new limitations.”

—Reuters