US slams UN over Iran

The United States accused the UN nuclear watchdog yesterday of weakening its credibility by denying there was evidence Iran was seeking atomic weapons, but the agency's chief called the US criticism "disingenuous".

Washington says Iran has a secret programme to develop atomic bombs and was enraged when an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report concluded there was "no evidence" of this.

The US ambassador to the IAEA, Kenneth Brill, said this phrase was "highly unfortunate" and that the IAEA should have used the words "no proof" instead.

He said the wording used by the IAEA provoked "expressions of disbelief that the institution charged with... scrutinising nuclear proliferation risks was dismissing important facts."

The Agency report said Iran concealed a uranium enrichment programme for 18 years and secretly reprocessed plutonium useable in weapons. It said there was "no evidence" of an arms programme but the jury was still out as to whether one existed.

The United States now wants an IAEA resolution finding Iran in "non-compliance" with its international non-proliferation obligations - which could eventually bring UN sanctions - but Britain, France and Germany want a softer line.

Diplomats from both sides were at loggerheads over a text after talks late into Thursday in Vienna, the Agency's base.