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The governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will start a five-day meeting on the nuclear programs of Iran and Libya on Monday, during which two resolutions will be discussed.
Libya has agreed to dismantle its program under the supervision of the IAEA. But Iran, though claiming its innocence, has long been accused by the United States of using its atomic energy program as an excuse to build a bomb.
According to the IAEA's recent report on Iran, its inspectors had unearthed designs and parts for the advanced "P2" uranium enrichment centrifuge, capable of producing bomb-grade uranium, and uncovered experiments process in the creation of plutonium and polonium, which can be used in nuclear weapons.
As to the report, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid RezaAsefi denied the existence of the advanced nuclear equipment, describing those reports as "unfounded." He stressed that Iran's nuclear activities are intended for peaceful purposes and the country has not pursued and still does not pursue any nuclear weapons program.
On Sunday, Iranian Supreme National Security Council secretary Hassan Rohani said through state television that it was time for the IAEA to close the 13-month investigation into Iran's unclear program.
In an effort to dispel suspicion over its nuclear program, Iran signed an additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) last December, allowing unfettered UN inspections to its nuclear facilities.
(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2004)
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