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| Iran 'withholds nuclear details' | Iran 'withholds nuclear details' |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| The UN nuclear watchdog has said it believes Iran is still withholding information on its nuclear programme. | The UN nuclear watchdog has said it believes Iran is still withholding information on its nuclear programme. |
| In a report, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Tehran's alleged weapons development studies remain a matter of serious concern. | In a report, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Tehran's alleged weapons development studies remain a matter of serious concern. |
| It adds that Iran is operating 3,500 centrifuges, the machines used to enrich uranium, at its plant at Natanz. | It adds that Iran is operating 3,500 centrifuges, the machines used to enrich uranium, at its plant at Natanz. |
| Enriched uranium can be used in nuclear weapons, but Tehran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful. | Enriched uranium can be used in nuclear weapons, but Tehran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful. |
| Last month, the IAEA said it had reached an agreement with Iranian officials to clarify the main outstanding question about Iran's past nuclear work by the end of May. | Last month, the IAEA said it had reached an agreement with Iranian officials to clarify the main outstanding question about Iran's past nuclear work by the end of May. |
| But in its latest report, the IAEA says Tehran needs to provide much more explanation and information on its nuclear activities. | But in its latest report, the IAEA says Tehran needs to provide much more explanation and information on its nuclear activities. |
| Unanswered questions | |
| "Iran has not provided the agency with all the information, access to documents and access to individuals necessary to support Iran's statements [that its activities are purely peaceful in intent]," the IAEA report said. | |
| "The agency is of the view that Iran may have additional information, in particular on high explosives testing and missile-related activities which... Iran should share with the agency. | |
| An unnamed "senior UN official" in Vienna told Reuters news agency: | |
| "We have not got substantive answers and we could have gotten those earlier. It's up to Iran [now]." | |
| Gregory Schulte, the chief US delegate to the IAEA, said the report had detailed a "long list of questions that Iran has failed to answer". | |
| "At the same time that Iran is stonewalling its inspectors, it's moving forward in developing its enrichment capability in violation of Security Council resolutions," he told The Associated Press. | |
| The envoy described parts of the report as a "direct rebuttal" of Iranian arguments that all nuclear questions had been answered. | |
| Centrifuges | |
| Iran has told the IAEA it plans to have 6,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges operating by the end of the summer. | |
| Speaking anonymously, officials close to the IAEA said on Monday they had no reason to doubt this was the case. | |
| The suspension of uranium enrichment is a key demand of the UN Security Council, which has imposed sanctions on Iran. | |
| Uranium can be used either as nuclear fuel or as the fissile core of missile warheads, depending on the degree of enrichment. | |
| Iran insists it has a right to enrich uranium under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and says it want only to generate power. | |
| Iran's nuclear programme has been under IAEA investigation since 2002, when Iranian dissidents revealed the existence of secret uranium enrichment. |