DHAKA: The UN nuclear agency chief told Iran on Monday it was ‘essential and urgent’ for it to engage with his inspectors on their concerns about suspected Iranian nuclear bomb research and to provide access to a key military site.

Yukiya Amano was addressing a session of the agency’s 35-nation board, the first since relative moderate Hassan Rohani took office as Iranian president in early August, raising hopes of progress in the decade-old nuclear dispute.

Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the IAEA was committed to working constructively with Rohani’s government to ‘resolve outstanding issues by diplomatic means’, reports The Jerusalem Post.

BDST: 1606 HRS, SEPT 09, 2013
RoR/Jck