UN’s Amano says Iran ‘under obligation’ to suspend nuclear work

Bloomberg, 03 July 2009 — Japan’s Yukiya Amano, director- general designate of the United Nations atomic agency, 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. Iran says it’s developing peaceful nuclear technology to generate electricity.
Amano, 62, a longtime proponent of nuclear disarmament, won an IAEA election yesterday to become the new director general, succeeding Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, who retires in November.
The Japanese diplomat, who previously failed to win majority support in three meetings of the IAEA board, 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 must approve his election.
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.