IAEA questions Iran's transparency

The International Atomic Energy Agency is unable to verify that Iran's nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, the agency's director said. Iran and members of the international community have had two rounds of negotiations this year regarding its nuclear program. A third round of multilateral talks is scheduled for June in Moscow. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said at a meeting Monday in Vienna that Tehran wasn't providing the level of transparency needed to allay nuclear concerns. Both sides had met in Vienna in mid-May before the last round of multiparty talks in Baghdad, the first such talk between Iran and the IAEA in three months. "Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation to enable the (IAEA) to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities," Amano said. "I urge Iran to take steps toward the full implementation of all relevant obligations in order to establish international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program." Iran maintains the right to pursue a peaceful nuclear program under the terms of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It's suspected of using the program as cover for weapons development, an allegation the government denies. Amano said he'd meet again with Iranian officials Friday in Vienna.