Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Thursday that Iran does not currently
pose an immediate threat to the international community.
"Iran does not constitute a certain and immediate threat to the
international community," said the UN nuclear chief in an interview
with Italian RAI television while in Italy for an IAEA
conference.
ElBaradei made the remarks amid rising international tension
regarding the nuclear deadlock with Teheran.
However, the director of the UN nuclear watchdog also called for
efforts to push forward dialog, saying that a delay in talks could
result in negative consequences.
The US and France have called for a tougher hand in the dispute
with Iran over its uranium enrichment program, which the US and its
allies suspect is the first step in an effort to acquire an atomic
bomb.
France on Thursday called on its European partners to take their
own economic measures against Iran while working to secure new UN
sanctions at the same time.
Iran's Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said on Thursday
that the country successfully testified a new model of its
home-made fighter jet, the official IRNA news agency reported.
(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2007)
