VIENNA — A senior US envoy says Iran is committed to “deception, defiance and delay” in how it deals with international concerns about its nuclear program. The hard-hitting comments by Joseph MacManus to the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency reflect US frustration over Iran's expanding uranium enrichment program and stalled attempts by the UN's nuclear agency to probe suspicions that Tehran might have tried to develop nuclear weapons in secret. Iran denies any such efforts and says all its nuclear activities are peaceful. But it continues to block IAEA experts access to sites, officials and documents it wants to probe and refuse the UN Security Council demands to stop enrichment, which can be used to make reactor fuel and fissile warhead material. The European Union also used the board meeting to pile pressure on Iran to stop obstructing an IAEA investigation into suspected atom bomb research by Tehran, which denies the charge. Washington and its Western allies were signalling their determination that Iran must give the IAEA access to sites and documents, regardless of broader talks between Tehran and world powers that resumed last week. Some diplomats say Iran is using its meetings with the IAEA merely for leverage in those negotiations with world powers which, unlike the IAEA, have the power to ease sanctions that they have recently tightened on the major oil producer. “We are deeply concerned with what appears to be Iran's unwavering commitment to deception, defiance, and delay,” Macmanus told the IAEA's board of governors, according to a copy of his speech to the closed-door session. — Agencies
