NEW YORK, Jan 15: Warning Iran over the confrontation with the international community on its nuclear programme , Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Sunday that despite intensive three years of verification of Iranian nuclear programme, he was unable to make a judgment on its peaceful nature.

In an interview with Newsweek magazine released on Sunday, Mr ElBaradei said that he was prepared to “issue a report that will have major implications around the world’.

Mr ElBaradei asserted Iranian government has to allow access to the inspectors to avoid further escalation and ascertain “if they have the nuclear material and they have a parallel weaponization programme along the way, they are really not very far — a few months — from a weapon. We need to revisit the treaty, because that margin of security is unacceptable.”

The IAEA chief, who is in the middle of the escalating tensions between Iran, Europe and the United States, told the magazine “for the last three years, we have been doing intensive verification in Iran, and even after three years I am not yet in a position to make a judgment on the peaceful nature of the [nuclear] programme”.

“We still need to assure ourselves through access to documents, individuals, [and] locations that we have seen all that we ought to see and that there is nothing fishy, if you like, about the programme,” he stressed.

Opinion

Editorial

Kurram fragility
Updated 03 Feb, 2025

Kurram fragility

JUST as the people of Kurram began to see some relief in the form of convoys laden with essentials reaching...
Inheritance denied
03 Feb, 2025

Inheritance denied

PAKISTAN’s heritage — from the Hindu Kush range to the Indus banks and delta — is a testament to the richness...
Captive shift
03 Feb, 2025

Captive shift

THE objective of the Power Division’s directive to the public distribution companies, including K-Electric, to ...
Absent justice
Updated 02 Feb, 2025

Absent justice

If the senior-most judges are so helpless, what hope does the common citizen have?
Out of tune
Updated 02 Feb, 2025

Out of tune

Constitutional assurances of freedom to practise faith and protection of life and liberty for all citizens ring hollow for many of Pakistan’s religious minorities.
Vanishing lifeline
02 Feb, 2025

Vanishing lifeline

AS the world marks Wetlands Day, Pakistan’s critical ecosystems find themselves in an unenviable position. The...