The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a new report in which it claimed it had “credible information” Iran was "working on developing nuclear weapons".

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a new report in which it claimed it had “credible information” Iran was "working on developing nuclear weapons". The Islamic Republic rejected the report saying it was unbalanced and it didn’t contain any new issue.

In the report, published on Tuesday, the UN atomic watchdog said: "The agency has serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program”.
"After assessing carefully and critically the extensive information available to it, the agency finds the information to be, overall, credible. This information indicates that Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device".

The agency also said that its information revealed that "prior to the end of 2003, these activities took place under a structured program, and that some activities may still be ongoing".

The Vienna-based agency said it possessed information on Iran's work "on the development of an indigenous design of a nuclear weapon including the testing of components".
The IAEA called on Iran "to engage substantively with the agency without delay for the purpose of providing clarifications".

The watchdog Director General Yukiya Amano's distributed the report to the 35 members of the Board of Governors of the agency on Tuesday evening, ahead of the seasonal meeting of the board, which is scheduled to be held in Vienna from November 17 to 18.

UNBALANCED, POLITICALLY MOTIVATED
For its part, the Islamic Republic rejected the report as politically motivated.
"The report of the International Atomic Energy Agency is unbalanced, unprofessional and politically motivated", Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, was quoted as saying.

Soltanieh said further the IAEA report "did not contain any new issue".
"Despite Iran's readiness for negotiations, the IAEA published the report ... which will harm its reputation," Soltanieh added.

The Iranian envoy told Press TV that neither the agency nor its director has the right to disseminate false information about any member state.

HISTORIC MISTAKE
Soltanieh described the report as a historic mistake which disturbed the “conducive environment” that Iran had created through visits by IAEA officials to Iranian nuclear sites and facilities, saying, “This has created difficulties, and of course, it gives excuses to the enemies”.

Commenting on the report, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the Islamic Republic was on the frontline of the campaign against nuclear weapons.

“There is no conclusive evidence that Iran wants to build a nuclear bomb,” he made the remarks in the Armenian capital, adding that the West is trying to put pressure on Iran without any legal proof.

Iran confirms its program is for peaceful ends only insisting that is its right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) while Israel, which is believed to be the sole nuclear power in the Middle East with more than 200 nuclear heads, is not a signatory for this treaty. 

RUSSIAN STANCE
On the other hand, Russia criticized the report, saying it would reduce hopes for dialogue with Tehran and suggesting it was aimed to scuttle the chances for a diplomatic solution.

"We have serious doubts about the justification for steps to reveal contents of the report to a broad public, primarily because it is precisely now that certain chances for the renewal of dialogue between the 'sextet' of international mediators and Tehran have begun to appear," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russia and China had jointly pressured the IAEA not to even publish the report, diplomats in Vienna said.