Iran to Explain Study of Atomic Arms

I'm curious how Iran is going to spin this. New York Times

VIENNA (Reuters) — Iran has agreed to answer contentions stemming from American and other intelligence reports that it studied how to design nuclear weapons, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the agency’s director general, called the gesture a “milestone.” Iran previously denied the reports but declined to address them in detail.

Resolving whether Iran secretly tried to “weaponize” nuclear materials is central to the agency’s ability to complete an inquiry into Iran’s nuclear program. Iran has refused to suspend work on enriching uranium for nuclear fuel. Iran says the work is for peaceful energy purposes, but the United States and other nations say it is a quest to develop nuclear weapons.

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The agreement “is a certain milestone, and hopefully by the end of May we’ll be in position to get the explanation and clarification from Iran as to these alleged studies,” Dr. ElBaradei said during a visit to Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital.

His spokeswoman said the deal was struck in Tehran on Monday and Tuesday between Iranian leaders and Olli Heinonen, the atomic agency’s top investigator.

Iran had called the talks with Mr. Heinonen positive but had not said what they involved.

Iran has rejected the intelligence about weapons experiments, saying it was fabricated.

But the agency has insisted that Iran back up its denials with proof. American intelligence findings said Iran researched bomb designs until 2003, and other countries have said the illicit work continued more recently.