Nuclear watchdog to focus on rogue Syria

UN ATOMIC watchdog chief Yukiya Amano defended today his decision to go public with his recent assessment that Syria had been building an undeclared nuclear reactor at a remote desert site.

"The Syrian government was given ample time by the agency to cooperate fully concerning the Dair Alzour site, but did not do so," Amano told a closed-door meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors.

"Nevertheless, we had obtained enough information to draw a conclusion. I judged it appropriate to inform member states of our conclusion at this stage as it was in no one's interest to let this situation drag on indefinitely."

In a recent toughly worded report on the IAEA's ongoing probe into the allegations against Syria, Amano said that the Dair Alzour site - which was flattened by Israeli planes in September 2007 - was "very likely" to have been a covert nuclear reactor, as alleged by the United States.

Damascus has always denied the allegations, but provided no evidence to clear its name, nor allowed the IAEA access to the site to clear up the allegations for itself.

"I am confident about our conclusion and I look forward to engaging further with Syria to resolve related outstanding issues," Amano said.

Turning to the IAEA's long-running investigation on Iran, Amano said the watchdog "has received further information related to possible past or current undisclosed nuclear related activities that seem to point to the existence of possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program."

The IAEA has long been pressing Tehran to answer the allegations, so far no to avail. Iran has merely dismissed the evidence backing up the allegations as "fabricated" and "baseless", but refused to discuss the matter further.

"There are indications that certain of these activities may have continued until recently," Amano said.

The West has long suspected the Islamic republic of seeking to build a bomb under the guise of its civilian nuclear energy program, a charge persistently denied by Tehran.

But after eight years of intensive investigation, the IAEA says it is still not in a position to determine whether Iran's nuclear activities are entirely peaceful as Tehran claims.