Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said in Tehran Wednesday that Iran is waiting for a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to decide on signing an additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"The IAEA is expected to provide ranking Iranian officials with a report on the NPT protocol so that they can use it to decide on joining the protocol," the official IRNA news agency quoted Kharazias saying.

The foreign minister said Iran's request that the IAEA should send legal experts to discuss the issue never means that Tehran has already accepted the protocol, stressing that this only shows that Iran is studying the issue.

"There are still many ambiguities with regard to the additional protocol and we hope that the experts will be able to answer our questions and that we are completely informed of all the details," Kharazi said.

He described Iran's signing of the NPT protocol as a "major obligation," while stressing that the public opinion, particularly the parliament that should approve the measure, must be informed about it.

"This is not an easy task that could be easily carried out; rather, the preliminaries must be prepared, and the protocol must be thoroughly understood so that officials can make a decision on the issue," Kharazi said.

On Monday, Iran vowed to be committed to the NPT, denying reports saying it would quit from the NPT.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2003)