ARABS-UN - Nov. 11 - No Evidence Iran Has Nuclear Arms.

The FT quotes IAEA head ElBaradei as saying in his new report Iran repeatedly concealed information and failed to meet its nuclear commitments but insisting there is no evidence so far that Tehran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. He says Iran had continued to conceal information from the IAEA until last month but has since provided active co-operation and access, including making available officials for interviews. (The US, which takes a hardline approach to Iran and insists the theocracy has a clandestine nuclear weapons programme, is likely to seize on the breaches described in the report as proof that Tehran cannot be trusted. But the conclusion that there is no evidence yet of a weapons programme will bolster the arguments of more moderate IAEA board members when they meet in Vienna to discuss the issue on Nov. 20. To underline its new co-operation Iran has informed the IAEA it was ready to sign an additional protocol to the NPT that paves the way for more intrusive inspections of nuclear sites. Tehran also said it was suspending its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities. On Nov. 11 the FT quoted a Western diplomat as saying: "Iran confessed to everything that the IAEA challenged it on but they're also saying that they will correct things". The two steps were called for in an IAEA resolution issued in September. They are also part of an agreement reached in Tehran last month with the FMs of the UK, France and Germany. The deal was designed to head off US pressure on its allies to declare Iran in violation of the NPT and refer the issue to the UN Security Council. The agreement hit a snag, however, over the interpretation of what constitutes a suspension of uranium enrichment. It is unclear whether the temporary halt announced by Tehran would fully satisfy the European governments. The IAEA report came as Russia launched discussions to build a second nuclear reactor at Bushehr in southern Iran, a project likely to cost $1.2 bn, officials from both countries indicated. The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Hassan Rowhani, in charge of nuclear affairs, said talks were underway after a meeting with Pres. Putin in the Kremlin. Putin, who has fiercely defended construction of the $1 bn Bushehr-I plant as no threat to nuclear proliferation, had asked Iran to sign the additional protocol and insisted on the return of all nuclear fuel to Russia for reprocessing and storage. Russia's ministry of atomic energy said a bilateral working group would begin work on proposals for Bushehr-II, which would have the same 1,000 MW capacity as Bushehr-I and be operational by 2010).