Iran has expressed determination to adhere to total transparency in its dealings with the UN nuclear watchdog and says it has cooperated beyond expectations, defying US calls for more international pressure.
On November 20th, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors will meet to discuss an IAEA report on Iran's nuclear programme, detailing decades of failures by Iran to report truthfully about its activities and facilities.
The IAEA report concluded there was no evidence to date that Iran's nuclear programme was for anything but peaceful purposes, but said the jury was still out.
"We are strongly determined on complete transparency," Iranian Foreign Minister Mr Kamal Kharrazi told reporters in Tokyo on Friday after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi. "We have cooperated even more than the IAEA expected."
The United States wants the board to declare Iran in violation of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which would require it to report Iran to the UN Security Council for possible economic sanctions.
Mr Kharrazi noted that Iran had agreed to sign an NPT Additional Protocol and that, based on this, it would permit the IAEA to perform more intrusive, short-notice inspections of all its nuclear sites. He added that he felt sure the IAEA report had made clear that Iran's nuclear programme was for only peaceful uses.
His remarks came a day after Tehran warned of "unpredictable consequences" if the IAEA finds it in breach of the NPT, a global pact against atomic weapons. The IAEA report said Iran hid a centrifuge uranium enrichment programme for 18 years and produced small amounts of plutonium, usable in a bomb and with scant civilian uses.
US national security adviser Ms Condoleezza Rice yesterday told reporters that the report made clear the Iranians had not been truthful about their nuclear activities in the past, and that this raised questions about their future truthfulness. She added that, given Iran's track record of secrecy, the international community should keep up the pressure.