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As UN Atomic Chief Heads to Iran, Annan Appeals

With the head of the United Nations Atomic Energy Agency (<"">IAEA), Mohammed ElBaradei, on his way to Tehran for talks with Iran on resuming cooperation with the nuclear non-proliferation regime, Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed today for all involved to "cool down" their rhetoric and actively search for a diplomatic solution.

"Yes, they have pursued their research," Mr. Annan said of the Iranian claim that the country has already successfully enriched uranium in defiance of the international community, as he spoke to journalists at The Hague in the Netherlands this morning.

"But I hope they will be able to come back to the table and work with the international community to find a negotiated solution," he added.

Recalling that Iran has all along maintained that its intent is to develop peaceful uses of nuclear energy for the country, he said that if that indeed is the case, "they should be able to give the international community that assurance and work with everybody to find a solution out of this."

"I appeal to everyone to work more actively in search of a diplomatic solution and to cool down on the rhetoric and not to escalate," he said.

On 29 March, in its first official action after the matter was referred to it by the IAEA, the UN Security Council called on Iran to re-establish full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, in a manner that is verified by the Agency.

In 2003, it was discovered that Iran had carried out secret nuclear activities for 18 years in breach of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and some countries, the United States among them, claim that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, which Iran denies.

Source: United Nations