Thu, Jun 17, 2004 - Page 6 News List

Diplomats savage Iranian nuclear disclosure record

HARSH WORDS Iranian diplomats are scurrying to have a poor assessment of its nuclear record toned down as the patience of IAEA members wears thin

AP , VIENNA

In desperate efforts to sway the meeting, the Iranian delegation met privately with ElBaradei on Tuesday and lobbied with the chief delegates of the three European nations who wrote the draft, a diplomat close to the agency said.

Publicly, Tehran protested its innocence.

"We have no plans to produce weapons and all of our activities are for peaceful purposes and nothing is wrong," Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said on Tuesday in Istanbul.

But in Vienna, Kenneth Brill, the chief US delegate to the IAEA, said Washington remained convinced that Iran was "trying to hide ... a weapons program."

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