Friday, May 24th 11:39 AM IST

Iran pushes to blunt UN nuke agency powers

Aug 31, 2012

Vienna:  Iran is urging member countries to dilute the clout of Western nations at the UN nuclear agency that fears it may be trying to make atomic arms. Instead, it wants its allies to have more authority.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. AP

The bid is outlined in a document submitted for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Conference next month. It appears to be part of Tehran’s efforts to weaken IAEA attempts to follow up suspicions it has experimented with components of a nuclear weapons program.

Iran denies such allegations and says it is enriching uranium — which could be used to arm nuclear warheads — only to make reactor fuel, medical isotopes and for research. But it has refused foreign offers of reactor fuel and is blocking IAEA attempts to investigate the weapons allegations.

AP

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