MOSCOW. Oct 27 (Interfax) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) again called on Iran to honor its international commitments and believes dialogue on the Iran nuclear program should be continued.
Speaking at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said his duty is to apply the Safeguards Agreement with Iran, monitor the observance of Iran's commitments and comply with the UN Security Council resolutions. He admitted, however, that Iran does not always fully comply with its commitments.
Amano insisted that it was extremely important to continue dialogue between Iran and the six world powers, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany, and acknowledged that Russia is playing a positive and substantial role in this.
The IAEA's role in this is limited to acknowledging or not acknowledging that Iran's nuclear program is purely civilian, he said.
In commenting on reports that the loading of nuclear fuel to the reactor of the Bushehr nuclear power plant was started on Tuesday morning, Amano pointed out that some time usually passes after fuel has been loaded before a plant begins full-scale operations. The plant itself and fuel for it are under the IAEA guarantees, and Iran has also declared the entire amount of nuclear materials it is using for civilian purposes under the Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA, he said.
Amano's first visit to Russia during which he has held a number of high-level meetings is wrapping up on Tuesday. In particular, the IAEA director general met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko. He said his conversations with these people were political and described his visit to Russia as very productive.