VIENNA, March 2: Iran must come clean on nuclear questions, UN atomic agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said on Wednesday. Mr ElBaradei, whose International Atomic Energy Agency is investigating Iran for possible nuclear weapons work , said Tehran must carry out "transparency" measures that allow widespread visits by IAEA inspectors beyond what is required under the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.

"The ball is very much in Iran's court to come clean through absolute transparency measures and cooperation with the agency," he said. He was speaking the day after a report by IAEA deputy director Pierre Goldschmidt outlining key areas where he said Iran was refusing to cooperate with UN inspectors.

These include blocking a follow-up visit to the Parchin military facility where Washington charges Tehran is simulating testing of nuclear weapons. Parchin is not a site where there are definitely nuclear materials, and tracing nuclear materials is the IAEA mandate from the NPT.

But Mr ElBaradei said that Iran was a "special case" since its nuclear programme "has been clandestine for almost two decades and it is difficult that we can come to a conclusion (about weapons work) and provide assurance without full cooperation, full openness, full transparency on the part of Iran."

The IAEA is asking the Iranians "to go out of their way, not just to play by the book but to be more transparent to allow us to do everything we want to do, frankly in terms of interviewing people, in terms of having access to documents, in terms of making transparency visits to facilities."

Mr ElBaradei said going back to sites would be "redundancy visits" to rule out that material has been diverted from peaceful use and that this would be a way of creating "the necessary confidence." "If I say there are three more important things Iran needs to do, I should say transparency, transparency and more transparency," Mr ElBaradei said.

He said this would help in talks Iran is having with the European Union on incentives for the Islamic Republic since with "more confidence" about Tehran's past nuclear programme, the easier it will be "to focus on the future normalization of relations in the areas of economic relations, trade technology and security." -AFP