ElBaradei said he hoped to be able to reach definitive conclusions about the nature of Iran's nuclear program within a year.
Elbaradei was answering questions from the Post after giving a speech on "Reflections on Nuclear Challenges Today" at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
By David Horrovitz
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have found no "smoking gun" in Iran that would indicate a nuclear weapons program, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director-general of the IAEA, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
He added that the IAEA hasn't "seen an underground production enrichment facility" either. Nor, he said, had it seen sufficient materials in Iran to build a nuclear weapon.
ElBaradei said he hoped to be able to reach definitive conclusions about the nature of Iran's nuclear program within a year.
Elbaradei was answering questions from the Post after giving a speech on "Reflections on Nuclear Challenges Today" at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
Asked by the Post about a concern that countries, including Israel, might have to resort to military force to thwart an Iranian weapons drive, ElBaradei said: "There is lots of speculation" about what Iran has been doing. "We try to work on the basis of facts. We haven't seen a smoking gun in Iran."
He added that he hoped Iran's current suspension of uranium enrichment would be maintained, and that this would give negotiations time to achieve a solution.
In his address, ElBaradei, who along with the IAEA received this year's Nobel peace prize, noted that for 18 years, Iran had "been running an undeclared program." The IAEA, he said, had found "most of the pieces of the puzzle," but was calling for more transparency and pro-active cooperation from Teheran to "clear" its past.
