New IAEA head says no evidence of Iran bomb program, but calls for end to peaceful nuke development anyway

The incoming head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Friday he did not see any hard evidence Iran was trying to gain the ability to develop nuclear arms. Nevertheless, he called upon Iran to abandon its civilian nuclear power development program. Japan's Yukiya Amano, a longtime proponent of nuclear disarmament, won an IAEA election last week to become the new director general, succeeding Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, who retires in November. He appealed to Iran to follow Security Council demands to suspend its nuclear work. "Iran and other countries are under obligation to implement these Security Council resolutions," said Amano today in Vienna, at his first news conference since winning a vote to lead the International Atomic Energy Agency. "I hope the implementation by Iran and other countries will further help the agency to discharge its responsibilities." The Security Council has implemented three sets of sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment and the construction of a heavy-water nuclear reactor. The U.S. and its allies say the government in Tehran wants to build an atomic weapon, and outgoing IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei said last month it was his "gut feeling" Iran was seeking the ability to produce nuclear arms, if it desired, as an "insurance policy" against perceived threats. But Amano, who is expected to be pragmatic and apolitical in his leadership position, told Reuters, "I don't see any evidence in IAEA official documents about this" when asked whether he believed Tehran was seeking nuclear weapons capability. The Japanese diplomat had previously failed to win majority support in three meetings of the IAEA board, but finally won over the agency's member states on Friday, including developing countries which had tried to thwart his bid for the politically-sensitive post. He said he would seek to build alliances with developing and industrialized countries before the agency's annual general conference in September. The IAEA's 144 members approved his election last Friday. Amano, a lawyer who graduated from Tokyo University, joined Japan's Foreign Ministry in 1972. He has negotiated nuclear safeguards agreements and atomic bomb test-ban treaties. Amano told reporters he would do his utmost to implement IAEA safeguard agreements in Iran and Syria. He also said there was hope for future agency work in North Korea, which told IAEA inspectors to leave in April and which has since carried out a nuclear test. It fired four short-range missiles on Thursday. "I expect sincerely that (six-party diplomatic) talks will resume because only dialogue is the way for a solution," Amano said. "Upon the decision of...talks, I expect that the IAEA will be able to play an important role in the verification of nuclear issues in North Korea." Amano got the strongest backing from Western states keen for the IAEA to toughen steps against the spread of nuclear arms. But his rise has worried developing nations who see the non-proliferation maxim being used as an excuse to deny them a fair share of nuclear know-how. Iran has exploited such tensions, winning sympathy in the developing world, by arguing that to stop uranium enrichment as major world powers demand would violate its sovereignty, stunt its energy development and perpetuate inequality. To produce a nuclear weapon Iran would have to adjust its enrichment plant to yield bomb-ready nuclear fuel and miniaturize the material to fit into a warhead -- steps that could take from six months to a year or more, analysts say. It would also have to kick out IAEA inspectors and leave the NPT.